AN: Thank you so much for your patience in my updates, I am very thankful for them. I hope to update in the future on Sundays but I'm having kind of a down day so thought I'd update the new chapters I do have tonight. Hope you enjoy. Also, is it wrong of me that I'm happy people cried of the interaction with Kuon and Rick

Chapter Twenty Five – A million corn blue promises

It was a strange relief to be forgiven by Rick's family. It felt to Kuon as if Rick himself would have forgiven him or maybe that was too much to ask for, too much to expect once you stole the life of a man who had a great future before him. Kuon felt as if he could move as long as he reminded himself with every step that he had to live a good life now, a life full of splendor, a life where Rick would be proud to have a friend like him.

The rest of the filming for that day had gone well and Kuon could already feel his presence in America getting stronger. He could look around and realize where he was and also realize that he wasn't going to be punished for being here. He smiled as he walked down the streets by the shops. He wanted to make everyone proud of him but, aside from Kyoko's pride, he wanted most to be proud of himself.

As he was thinking about Kyoko, he paused and looked at a jewelry store where there was a beautiful and yet subtle bracelet. He put a hand to his own wrist as he thought about how important Rick's watch was to him. On the bracelet there was a charm in the shape of a heart which had purplish blue gems on it.

As the sun started to go down, Kuon noticed the flash of color that the charm gave and realized his luck. This was the same stone that Corn was, the stone that was most important to the woman who was most important to him. He smiled as he thought about how Kyoko had been treated by Sho who took far more than he gave. Kuon wanted to do the opposite. He wanted to provide her with so much love and so much more than she was to give him, he wanted her to feel the best she could especially since he felt joy from being forgiven by Rick's family.

He had seen it on a lot of sitcoms that were aimed at a teenage audience and maybe the idea was a little young for him, a little immature but he could imagine her loving it. For someone who lived in lala land with a permanent secondary residence there, she might really enjoy this idea.

He walked into the store and to the register before asking, "May I get that bracelet in the window?" he asked and the shop girl looked at him with a smile.

"Certainly," she said, "Are you giving it to your girlfriend? Would you like me to wrap it as a gift?"

"If you wouldn't mind," Kuon smiled, "I think that she would love it. Thank you," he said. Hopefully Kyoko would love this idea as much as Kuon thought that she would.

…..

…..

Kyoko was excited to be able to talk to Kuon all about what she had learned from observing Kuu whilst he acted. She could only imagine the joy that a young Kuon would have at watching this. Maybe it was childish but she felt as if she could match the young boys excitement. However, she had to admit that because of her own bias, she did enjoy watching Kuon perform more than his father. Maybe it was that you wanted to see the person who you loved the most succeed in doing what he loves.

Kyoko saw Kuon sitting at the dining table and rushed over to him with her notebook in her arms as well as the pile of papers. "Hi," she said and Kuon looked at her, his grin growing as he noticed the excitement that she held.

"Hi," he told her again, his hand moving to cover the box that the girl had wrapped for him so carefully. "It looks like you had a good day. I'm really glad," he smiled and Kyoko's heart melted at how happy he looked. It was as if his troubles had suddenly disappeared and he looked like that ten-year-old boy again, the fairy prince. She was so incredibly lucky to have him.

"I did, I really did," Kyoko nodded, "I know why you were so inspired to get into acting. Kuu-sama is incredible," she said and Kuon laughed, pulling her into his lap and positioning her so that he could hold her whilst sitting down. He kissed her affectionately as she wrapped her arms around him in a loving embrace.

"That's great," he told her, "My dad does get that kind of reaction but I thought that you would have become used to it. You spent so much time with him in Japan and this isn't the first time that you witnessed him acting over here."

"Okay." Kyoko said as she kissed Kuon's cheek and started to nuzzle his neck, "So maybe it wasn't as good as watching you or Ren work," she noticed that Kuon opened his mouth to argue with her and so she kissed him again, "Don't argue with me about that," she told him, "but I really want to be an actor that matches up to the two of you one day maybe one day far away."

"Not that far away," Kuon commented, "I think you already are at my level," he told her and Kyoko rolled her eyes.

"I'm not as amazing as you are," she said, "but I know that one day I'll be able to be at your level. I might even have more fans than you one day," she said before bowing her head with her cheeks turning red. "I'm sorry, that was really rude and uncalled for. I didn't mean to be so boastful like that. I didn't mean to step abo-"

This time it was Kuon who silenced her with a kiss, "I think maybe one day you will," he told her as he hugged her again. "Maybe one day we'll compete on that and I think I'd really love it. If you became a star that outranked me then that would make me incredibly proud and very happy for you. Maybe at that time we'll be Kuon and Kyoko Hizuri," he said as Kyoko blushed again.

Kyoko felt tears in her eyes. She was so happy that it was Kuon that she was dating. If it had been Sho then he would probably have never told her that, he would have laughed at her and told her that it was only a fantasy that she would ever be able to match him in the amount of fans that he had. He would tell her that she was plain and ordinary and that she should never think of herself as special. Unlike Kuon, he would never have been so humble as to say that he would support her if she was more popular or regarded more highly than him.

With her attention pulled, Kuon brought forth the box with the bracelet in it.

"I got something for you when I was out today," he smiled as she took hold of the box. "I hope you like it, I was hoping that it had a special meaning for you as silly as that is."

Kyoko smiled warmly, "You've given me so many things, some with well-crafted stories and then some without. I've always loved all of them. Kuon, you could give me anything and I'd love it because it came from you so thank you. It really is a beautiful box," she said as her thumb went over the ribbon on top that was done up like a bow.

"I'm hoping that you find what is inside the box even more beautiful," he said teasingly as Kyoko opened it and tears came to her eyes. She picked it up, instantly recognizing what kind of stone formed the heart. As many pieces of this same rock that she would get, she would love it. She wanted a collection of this rock because this stone represented Corn. It was what had taken away her sadness. It was what reminded her of how loved she was and of how lucky she was to have that love.

"It's gorgeous," she said as she held it in her hand and then put it on her wrist, turning it in the light to watch as the color changed. She felt her heart skip a beat as she admired it and then felt Kuon take her hand and bring it up to his lips before kissing her. She hoped one day that she would get a stone of this color.

"It's a promise that I'm all yours and that nothing is going to prevent me from loving you," he told her and Kyoko grinned. "I know I've made such promises to you in the past but this bracelet was bought on a day that was really very special to me," he said and Kyoko felt the honesty in his expression. Something good had happened to him that day and that meant a lot to her. With all of the pain that Kuon had had to endure in his life, she wanted every day to be as happy as possible for him.

"What happened?" she asked as she put her hand to his cheek, caressing his skin.

"I went to Rick's grave," Kuon said and Kyoko looked down before gazing into Kuon's eyes, she held her breath, feeling a little afraid to hear what had happened. The last thing that she wanted was for Kuon to get hurt. Such an emotional thing as visiting the grave of someone who felt like family to you was heartbreaking. As much as she disliked Sho, if she were to ever go to his grave she would fall apart. However, she kept her mouth shut, she was nervous to find out what had happened to him.

"While I was there, I saw his mother," he said, "I was worried about her hating me. After all, you would hate the person who was responsible for your child's death. I know that if someone murdered me or whacked me in the back of the head with a lead pipe that my parents would never be able to forgive them. She did forgive me," he said as Kyoko gave a sob of relief. "She made sure I was aware that she didn't consider me responsible for what happened and she even told me she was worried about me. It felt nice to be forgiven by his family."

Kyoko cuddled closer to him. "Then it really is a special day for you," she told him. Hopefully this would be a huge step in helping her love recover from what had occurred all of those years ago.

…..

…

Kuon had an evening shoot and so was spending some more time at home which had actually given him time to talk to his mother about how her modelling was going. Since Julie had always preferred modelling over acting, she was trying to squeeze a few more years out of it before retiring and becoming an actress full time. Despite both her son's and her husband's protests over her getting old, Julie could feel it being true. Men wanted to look at young and beautiful women and women wanted to be young a beautiful.

Kuon had learned this about his mother even more as he had spent time with her that day. He looked over at Julie as she brought in the mail. She looked through it, sorting out the bills from the other letters and then her face paled as she looked at a letter that didn't have an address on it.

All it had were the words 'Kuon Hizuri' written in blood.

End of Chapter Twenty Five

Thank you for reading

Thank you to the reviewers of Chapter Twenty Four

EmmaLasagna, KrisXD, RichkeyZero, Undertheskys