AN: This is my last update for a little bit. I know I've been updating this story a lot today and yesterday, I will hold back on it for a little bit and work on some other stories but I'm glad I managed to write these chapters and I hope you've been enjoying them too.

Chapter Thirty Six – Safety Procedures

"Are you okay, Kuu?" Julie asked the following morning as she saw her husband staring out of the window. She was worried about him since the last night. She had thought that he had stopped seeing these visions and hallucinations months ago but it had started up again last night. He was so distant with her when it involved Kuon but she didn't want to dream that he had really seen him, that he wasn't so dead as they had thought.

"How do you think a man goes into hiding?" Kuu asked and Julie watched him, her eyes filling with tears. Was he going delusional? He had told her that Kuon was absolutely dead and that the police had shown him evidence that proved it, now he was fantasizing again.

"Kuu, it's Christmas Eve," Julie whispered and then looked down as she tried to hold back her sobs. She could remember how cute Kuon was when he was a small child. He would talk about what had been on his letter to Santa and how he liked Kuu's cookies, and he would get excited to open his gifts. She could see that blond haired child and it broke her when she realized he would never get to experience that with his own kids.

"I know, I…maybe I need to go out on a walk or…clear my head," he said and Julie walked over to him.

"You barely slept," she said as she ran her fingers through his brown hair, she let a thumb brush around the stubble that was becoming a beard before wrapping her arms around him. He had tried to be so strong for her that she didn't know how to comfort him. He would usually not let his pain be known.

"I'm going to take that walk," Kuu said as he got up and Julie looked after him.

"Be back soon, okay?" she called out and Kuu nodded nervously. He'd spend the rest of the day with the two women he considered family but maybe he could sort out his thoughts if he took a walk. He wasn't sure whether the previous day had happened or not. Kuon was dead, that was what he had believed for six months. Kuon had to be dead.

…

…

Kuu had taken a drive to where a small and lesser known beach was, he remembered how he had played with Kuon on these sands and how he had scooped the tiny boy up in a towel and heard that laughter. Despite his absence from his son's life, he truly did love him. He managed to take his shoes off and then noticed a bridge. He had always told Kuon to keep away from there because the homeless community lived there. Was that prejudice of him? Had he been prejudiced knowing that?

Fortunately he didn't have much of any value on him. As Kuu made his way under the bridge, he saw people who had set up little tents, people who had dogs for protection, and then his eyes locked onto someone wearing a cast-off black hoody sleeping on top of a dismantled cardboard box and wearing the same shoes he had seen before.

It couldn't be, right?

He crouched down, hearing a dog barking at him and looked at the scruffy Alsatian, he was less than a year old but he had a fighter's spirit. "Sir," he asked as he caught sight of other people looking at him. He was sure those were the same shoes.

As the man turned, he saw him pull back and Kuu felt hope in his heart. He saw the man back against the side of the bridge but his hoody fell back. He quickly grabbed it but Kuu was overjoyed that he had found him, that either he was in a coma or that all of this was real. "Hey, Ren," he said very softly.

"Hey…" Kuon whispered as he let his hand go through the Alsatian's fur. "Easy boy, easy," he told the dog and Kuu looked between them. Was this dog Kuon's? He could imagine Kuon having a dog for safety reasons but where was this dog the previous night?

"You want to have breakfast with me?" Kuu asked, his eyes concentrating on his son's and Kuon looked around nervously.

"Is that safe?" he whispered and Kuu nodded before he saw Kuon struggle to get up. He looked around and saw a garbage bag that had some clothes in it. "Is that yours?" he asked and Kuon nodded. Kuu immediately picked it up before seeing Kuon pick up the dog. "Come on," he whispered and Kuon followed him nervously. "How long have you been down here?"

"Maybe…maybe two weeks," he said, "I'm sorry. I really couldn't come earlier than last night," he whispered and Kuu nodded slowly. He still didn't understand what was happening but he wasn't going to let his son live on the street. They would have to figure something else out. "I'm hidden here, it's safe here," Kuon continued to himself and Kuu raised an eyebrow. "They think I'm dead."

"They…" Kuu said not wanting to scare the younger man off. He saw Kuon shudder, his eyes darting from side to side as if he were going to run off somewhere. "Okay, okay, you don't have to tell me. This is about getting you something to eat," he tried to assure him. "Do you know what today is?"

Kuon shook his head and shrugged, "November?" he asked and Kuu sighed.

"December 24th," he corrected him and Kuon paused in surprise. He followed Kuu silently back to the car and Kuu put the trashbag in the back. "Do you need anything for the dog?" he asked and Kuon shook his head. "He's not going to bite me is he?" Kuu asked and Kuon sighed.

"He very well might," he replied, "I'm really sorry," he said as his eyes kept darting back and forth again. "There's no one that followed you, right? We're safe. None of…" Kuon sighed and sat in the car, bowing his head so that Kuu couldn't see his face still. "I'm really sorry, Dad, I didn't know it was going to happen. I've probably disappointed everyone."

Kuu froze, "No, you haven't disappointed us," he said as he wanted to wrap his arms around him but he could see that that might hurt Kuon more than help him. He had been living on the streets for how long? It seemed a lot longer than two weeks.

"Rick," Kuon said edgily as he sat in the back seat with the dog over his lap. "I shouldn't have revealed his hiding place, he should have stayed in the shadows. I'm aware of that now," he said as his hand went over the dog's fur, comforting him. "Rick…he made a deal with this gang. He told them they could have me if they let him live," Kuon tried to explain and Kuu felt a spark of hate in him. "The gang's a lot bigger than here in LA and…and this is…I shouldn't be in the open."

"This is the type of life that Rick was living?" Kuu asked and Kuon gave a rather shaky nod. "It'll be all right, though, if you stay in the shadows. If they don't know that you're alive then…can't there be any kind of victim protection or something?" he asked and Kuon took slow breaths.

"I thought about that but going into those programs means giving up on a chance of anything else. Cutting myself off from my loved ones forever. I don't know if I can -" he said and then gestured to his face. "They tell me I'll have to look like somebody else with the use of plastic surgery, I wouldn't even look like me anymore."

"Do the surgery," Kuu said bluntly as Kuon looked at him confused, "Create that new life for yourself. I know how hard it is to think that but if it'll save your life then isn't it worth it?" he asked and Kuon froze. Was his dad serious? "Even if you have to be someone else, your mother and I will always consider you our son. We just want to know that you're alive."

Kuon shakily nodded, "Will you take me then?" he asked and Kuu closed his eyes.

"Yes," he agreed and Kuon cuddled the dog closer.

…

…

Kyoko smiled as she looked at holiday pictures of the Hizuris. It really showed in the photographs how much the family loved one another. Kyoko grinned as she saw a ten year old Kuon on the Christmas card, she didn't know why she hadn't seen the similarities before. He was Corn. She went to her bag and pulled out a popular fashion magazine showing both men's fashion and women's. She had done some posing and modelling for different brands but what she wanted to show Julie most was a memorial picture on the second page of the magazine for Kuon since he had been an R. Mandy model for so long.

Kyoko looked up at Julie who was tearing up as she saw the Christmas picture that Kyoko had just been looking at. "Julie-san, are you-is there anything that I can help with?" she asked and Julie shook her head. Kyoko knew this feeling, the want to be with someone that you couldn't have.

"Can I show you something?" Kyoko asked and Julie nodded not able to say anything through her tears.

"What is it?" she asked as she approached Kyoko and Kyoko showed her the picture of Kuon in the magazine. Soon the tears were sparkling in her eyes and she wrapped an arm around herself scared of the pain that seeing that brought. "He looks so gorgeous," she whispered.

"I think he would have felt honored to be so well-remembered," Kyoko said as she looked at some of the pictures of her modelling. She had been Kuon's girlfriend for such a short amount of time. She should have realized he was Corn sooner, who knew how much time they would have spent together if she had.

As they were looking through the magazine, Julie heard her phone ring and she excused herself from the activity to pick it up. "Kuu, are you…"

"He's alive, Julie. I'm not kidding. We're at the Hilton and Boss is going to come. There's a lot to explain," he told her and Julie froze. Had her husband completely lost it? She excused herself from the room, not wanting to embarrass her husband further.

"Kuu, it's not him. If you're with somebody it has to be some random fan but fine, what's the room number?" she asked him before hearing someone else on the phone.

"H—Hi Mo-mom, I'm so sorry tha—I'm sorry," he whispered and Julie felt her heart soar. This was his voice but soon her husband was on the line again.

"Julie, ask at the front desk. I'm sure your phone hasn't been compromised but ask at the front desk for the room number, I'll let them know and Julie, please don't tell Kyoko any of this. I'll explain everything when I see you," he told her before hanging up the phone.

Julie stared at the phone once again before making her way into the living room where Kyoko was. She sighed before pointing at her, "I want you to come with me," she said and Kyoko blinked in surprise, "either my husband has gone completely insane in which case you can help or…or a miracle has happened and Kuon is alive."

End of Chapter Thirty Six

Thank you for reading

Thank you to ktoll9 for reviewing Chapter Thirty Five