AN: Thank you for your patience when it comes to the chapter uploads. I'm hoping that you enjoy this chapter. I have to admit that I'm in an 'I love Kuu Hizuri' place right now. Thank you 😊

Chapter 12 – A Place in the Family

Kuon sighed as he drove home. He couldn't believe what had just started to happen in his life and how the fact that he couldn't forgive himself for what happened to Rick, but Tina could…that definitely didn't feel right. He felt trapped and exposed at the same time and maybe he should try to be more accepting of it. He should have understood what taking this part meant.

He should have at least tried to be ready for Kuon to come back.

As he made his way to the apartment building, he saw a figure outside and his mind flashed back to when Kyoko had been standing in ice cold temperature and begged him to help her learn how to work like a model so she could create Natsu. It was such a long time since then.

However, as he pulled closer, he saw that this person was not Kyoko and was so far from being an innocent high school girl. He rolled down his window and looked at the 'disguised' figure. "You call that acting?" he asked with a grin before getting out of the car.

"I thought I was doing rather well," the man joked and Kuon stepped out of the car.

"You do know that all of the hiding won't be necessary anymore," Kuon grinned as he saw the older man take off his hat and glasses to show the extremely conspicuous Kuu Hizuri. "Japan will just know you as my father or rather they'll just know me as your son. There will be talks about how respectable directors and producers chose me for their work with you pulling strings backstage."

Kuu rolled his eyes, "If anything they'll see that I'm the father of the best actor in Japan for decades including during the time that I was acting. They'll see that us Hizuris only get better with age." Kuu put a hand to his chest and Kuon laughed as he looked at the ground, not sure how to respond.

"So, I know that what you've come here for probably isn't to stand around and bring back our father and son act," Kuon said, "Do you want to come up?" he asked before stopping and thinking for a moment. "You haven't seen my place yet, have you?" he asked as Kuu smiled.

"Not other than what Kyoko has told me about it," Kuu tried to joke. "Kuon, if you're not comfort—"

"I don't have much food up there but we can go shopping," he grinned. "Unless you have a problem with feng shui, I can't say I've looked it up recently so the angles might be completely off." Kuon looked at his father and sighed, "Dad, the whole world knows that you're my father now…or rather they will know very soon. I think it's alright if we drop the not knowing each other and it'd be easier to talk up there."

Kuu smiled and then nodded, "Then I'd love to see your apartment," he said as the two went in together. In the elevator, Kuon kept noticing his dad wanting to say something but then closing his mouth and trying to distract himself with something else. A few seconds went by and the action would repeat. Something his dad wanted to say to him seemed important but the distance that they had had for so many years was even making something important difficult to say.

Kuon smiled before walking over to the front door with his dad and opening it. He let him in first and Kuu looked around.

"It's pretty impressive," Kuu commented as Kuon raised and eyebrow and shook his head in disbelief. "It is, I know that it's an apartment and that your mother and I raised you in a larger house near the beach, but I like how you've placed everything. There's a very modern style to be impressed by."

"I think the president helped me at the start with…" Kuon said weakly but Kuu shook his head.

"Don't put yourself down, it's got a lot of you in it." Kuu said as Kuon walked over to the kitchen and took out the tea bags before getting the kettle started.

"Which kind?" Kuon asked as he showed his father the tea bags that he had for guests.

"Why don't you pick for me?" Kuu asked as Kuon blinked before looking down at them and took out a teabag. Kuu started pacing and looking at the home that his son had built for himself. "I'm impressed, you've really given yourself a nice place to live."

"I try," Kuon shrugged, "So, do you want to tell me why you've come by? It's alright if you don't and if tea isn't going to help, I do have some beer in the fridge. There's also some food that Kyoko made me since she worries about my eating patterns at times."

"I want to apologize," Kuu said weakly, "I think I may have pushed you too hard because I was being impatient and I wanted my son back. I know that the past years have been tough on you too and I did promise that I was going to wait for you to make your own way home. I think I rushed too much on this and didn't think and…what I'm really trying to say Kuon is that I'm sorry if you weren't ready. I'm sorry if I forced you to do something you didn't want to," he sighed before looking down with a sad smile. "I've always really failed at being a father."

Kuon coughed, his eyes widening and he turned so that he could look at the man who had raised him, his hero. "You were the best dad that a son could ask for. If the world had given you a normal son then you wouldn't have encountered the problems that you did. Please don't tell me that you're the screw up. You are an amazing father and I'm sorry that I wasn't the amazing son you deserve."

Kuu shook his head, "Idiot. You are amazing. You always have been."

"Don't you have to say that as my dad," Kuon joked and Kuu rolled his eyes.

"No, I have the honor of saying that because I'm your dad," he said as each time Kuon said that word a light got brighter inside of him. Kuu hesitated as he thought about what had happened backstage and looked down. "Kuon, you know that we don't think you're replaceable, right?" he asked nervously.

Kuon paused and then looked down, "You could have," he said as he looked away. "You and mom love being parents, I wouldn't have been surprised if there was a second child. I guess I feel selfish that I spent so much time trying to become someone else and you didn't get to experience having a teenager."

Kuon looked his dad face on, "I'd really like to be part of the Hizuri family again?" he said before the water boiled and Kuu walked over to it.

"You've always been, we've always kept that place in our hearts open for you to return to," Kuu moved the kettle and then let himself ruffle up his son's hair. "I just think that your story is one that is very interesting and as you've said yourself, your mother and I are young so we get to experience more time with you. Also, if you ever decide to have children," Kuu winked at him.

"Well they'd have the best grandparents in the world," Kuon laughed and then stretched back. "Should we invite mom over here? Try to take some time as Hizuris?" he asked and Kuu shook his head.

"How about tonight it's just us two men?" Kuu smiled before frowning. "Maybe we could order some food or you could show me the way to the supermarket that's next door and I could cook for you just like when you were young. You told me that you always loved my cooking."

"I've missed it," Kuon laughed, "Sadly I have absolutely zero cooking ability."

Kuon heard his phone buzz and looked at Kuu before flipping it open. Yashiro was telling him to turn on the TV? Had something happened because of people finding out…well of course something had happened. If a regular person learned that Ren Tsuruga was Kuu Hizuri's son, they would have been tempted to report it and get their fifteen minutes of fame.

"My manager is telling me to turn on the TV, sorry," Kuon said quickly as Kuu watched his son go into the living room where the TV set was. Kuon approached the set and turned it to the correct channel before the headline at the bottom caught his attention.

The Unwanted Hizuri Child? Details about Tsuruga, Ren's Double Identity.

Kuon sighed, he knew he was too close to the story to avoid it and it hadn't happened like he had hoped or expected. He had hoped to come out ahead of the story not have it be that some news channel would get first scoop on his life. Kuon frowned before he looked at his father who seemed extremely hurt by their words.

"So, you think that they couldn't handle having a child and decided to send him over here by himself? What kind of parenting is that?" one of the reporters said. "For Kuu Hizuri to hate his own child so much really makes you take a closer look at the actor."

"Dad," Kuon gasped as he saw Kuu watching in horror. "You know better than I how people try and twist the facts so that they get the most eye catching headline or buzz worthy story. Dad, I know that you didn't hate me. I'm…" Kuon grabbed his phone, seeing the sadness in his father's eyes was worse than anything that could have been said about him. "I'll call them, tell them I'll appear on the air right now. I…"

"Isn't that the way that even you started seeing it?" Kuu asked as Kuon blinked hard.

"Dad, I'll fix it, okay. It's really not you that they are after, it's me. They want my story and my past and they just have picked the entirely wrong way to do this. Dad, everyone knows that you're not like that," Kuon argued as Kuu sighed with a sad smile.

"I don't care about what they think of me, Kuon, if I did I'd be at the TV station right now although I didn't think that they'd take this approach. There's only one person's opinion who I really care about," Kuu said as Kuon watched him. Kuon sighed, his look softening and he dared himself to reach out for a hug which Kuu immediately gave him.

"I'm sorry if you ever thought that I'd fai—" Kuu said and Kyon shook his head.

"No," Kuon whispered, "You are my hero. I thought you knew that. You know, maybe, if it isn't too much trouble for you and Mom, I could spend the summer with you in America. Maybe stay for a few weeks or even a month, that is if you'd be okay with hosting me."

"That would be amazing," Kuu said honestly as Kuon turned off the TV set, he'd have to deal with that later. He definitely wasn't going to allow them to attack his father. Kuu Hizuri was too good for them and being Kuon right now meant that he got to be part of his family again. Well, maybe he could have made that decision a little sooner.

There was still a lot left to forgive.

….

AN2: Thank you to everyone who supports and reads this fanfic and a special thank you to: paulagato who reviewed the previous chapter