AN: Thanks for your patience guys 😊 It's been really hot in California recently and it's been hard to write. I really hope you enjoy this chapter. It's a little shorter than I hope to make my chapters but I hope that you enjoy it.

Chapter Sixteen – Offset

Kyoko stared at Shou not even knowing how to react, she looked at Kuu who was shifting uncomfortably but was more concerned with how Kuon was taking this. Kyoko knew that hesitant look that Kuu was giving to his son. It was that look of, who am I dealing with here because if this is Ren then he knows how to handle it gratefully, but if it's someone else I'll need to step in between.

Kuon had moved closer to Kyoko and was holding her, glaring at the man who had tried to put him behind bars. Kyoko took his hand. She didn't know whether it was to reassure him, herself, or make sure he didn't strike out at the jerk approaching them.

"I thought you were locked up, Fuwa" Kuon growled as he stood opposite him.

"Are you mistaking yourself with me, I'm not an animal who led some guy to his death. I mean, if you're so concerned about Kyoko being with the right people then take a look at -"

"Kuon is the right person," Kyoko said in a dark voice before she pushed Shou back. "Listen to me, you tried to send my boyfriend to jail, you tried to hurt people that I love and who have shown me love. You nearly ruined the work that I'm doing, the work a man that I call father is doing, and my boyfriend's career. Why do you think you can ever get me to forgive you? First of all, I will never forgive you for what you did to me and my life, but I will never ever forgive you for what you've done to Kuon. I never want to see you or think about you again."

"See, Fuwa" Kuon said with a superior smile though his eyes were full of danger and darkness. "You have just ruined whatever little thing you were hoping to experience with Kyoko. Kyoko isn't one to love easily, we both know that, but somehow I've managed to earn her love and here you are…standing at the sidelines. So do us all a favor and go crawl off to wherever vermin like you comes from."

Kyoko took a quick inhale and looked up at Kuon. Ren Tsuruga probably wouldn't have said something so dark or have such a look, but the smile still gleamed so brightly and with such gentlemanliness that it was only suspicious when you were close to him. Kyoko pulled her body in towards his and closed her eyes.

"Walk away Shou before I tell the media your real name and force you to step down from showbusiness," Kyoko threated. "After all, the police that I spoke to last night know your full name and have already been in contact with your parents. I already talked to my father as well and he is definitely not too pleased."

"Your father?" Shou asked with a raised eyebrow, "I doubt that,"

Kuon laughed and shook his head with a smile, "Pretty sure that the man she's referring to is my dad or the guy who you paid a visit to last night and confessed everything to. Fortunately, ever since I left home without a proper goodbye to my mother, she has the habit of making audio recordings of every conversation she suspects information of me dropping into."

Kyoko smiled, "Such a big mistake," she said before looking at Shou and grinned coldly, "I will say this, for all the stuff that we dug up on you, I really really hope you enjoy prison, maybe you'll even learn a thing or two."

Kuon took a deep breath as he saw his father approach them.

"Everything going on okay over here?" he asked his two children. He looked at Kuon and put a hand on his shoulder, "I've already contacted security and they should be able to escort him off set. You should get some rest, I bet in a couple of scenes I may have to give you an NG if you don't control that exhaustion in your eyes."

Kyoko smiled and kissed Kuon's cheek. She finally felt that she was playing on a team and that the two men who she was with wanted to take proper care of her whilst also supporting her and doing their best to help her achieve her dreams. This was definitely different from when she had first arrived in Tokyo with Shotaro and had to work so hard for him whilst denying things for herself. She grinned to Kuon and then pulled him away. "Come on, I think that they're serving lunch and you definitely need a good meal after what happened to you last night."

"Do I need to record it?" Kuon asked as Kyoko hummed and tapped a finger to her chin.

"No, I think that I'd prefer to just eat with you this time," she smiled as she took his hand and walked off with him to the dressing rooms. They both had a costume change for the scenes after the break and Kyoko would much rather fill her head with thoughts about her boyfriend instead of worrying about the man who had taken advantage of her.

….

….

"You're going to have to eat," Kyoko grinned as she sat down at the table opposite Kuon, she smiled happily as she let her fingers run through her hair and she tucked some of it behind her ear. "You've had a very tough experience," she teased him.

"You mean when that guy approached us just now, that was rougher than last night," Kuon joked around in a playful manner. Kyoko laughed and rolled her eyes.

"Well that was an ordeal, but I've never been behind bars before unless you count one of those pretend cages. Nothing with uniform or anything," she commented thinking about the time when she had been put in a makeshift cage for Bo the rooster.

"I've been in holding cells before…well one holding cell but a few times as a teenager," Kuon said as Kyoko sighed.

"Try not to let people hear you say that," she giggled before kissing his lips and pulling back with a blush. "I mean, I know you have a past, Kuon, and I accept that about you but you need to watch what you say when you're not sure if the media is around."

"I wo—" Kuon started but the two of them were interrupted as a third bento landed on the table.

"Mo!" Kanae placed a hand to Kyoko's head, "You didn't forget that I was here as well, did you? You're just like one of those stupid foolish girls who can only think about love and the man that they are with. Do you want to forever be cursed to walk among girls who can only think about love and don't have any substance in their heads, sometimes your head is too fluffy inside as it is."

Kyoko's eyes widened and she got up and dropped into a bow as Kuon held back a laugh. "I'm soooo sorry Moko-san. I have been acting like a stupid girl. I promise to moderate my love for Kuon," she turned deep red as she said that. "I promise to be a better friend, Mooookooo"

"Well, as long as that's understood," Kanae said with a raised eyebrow to Kuon who looked taken aback for a moment. "The jury's still out on you," she pointed to him as Kuon laughed.

"I fear that they always have been," he replied before seeing Kyoko's extremely happy face that she got to sit at a table with the two of them. "I also promise that I will not put my dream above Kyoko's happiness unless we have discussed it and I'm not going to force her to do anything that she doesn't want to do. I know how hard she works and I want it to be for her own dreams. I have great belief in her."

Kyoko froze again and smiled softly, "See, Moko, Kuon's a good guy."

"He's a good guy now but I wonder if Ren Tsuruga would have been better for you," Kanae said before staring at the bento and growling. "Don't they know that actors need to stick to a suitable number of calories for the profession, I mean it's alright for guys to get fat," she said as she gestured to Kuon who coughed at that.

"Kuon eats less than you, Moko," Kyoko said as Kanae looked him over and shook her head. She gestured to where Kuu was with Yashiro and Julie. "Ah, it looks like Yashiro-san is talking to Father again," she grinned as she saw a stack of food at Kuu's place. "That's not enough for him."

"He's going to eat during the shoot," Kuon tried to remind her, "Didn't you see how much snack food he got through already, we have another half day left."

Kyoko nodded as she started to eat her own food, she reached out and took Kuon's hand and he let his fingers curl around hers. The two were blissfully sitting together when their happiness was broken by Kanae's bluntness.

"So I wonder how you're going to deal with the media," she said to the two of them. "Right now, Kuon Hizuri's innocence and his popularity increasing to beyond where it was before. I don't care what you do," she told Kuon, "but if you're going to appear as his girlfriend they might try to drag your name into interviews too."

"I can make sure that I step around Kyoko's name," Kuon tried to reassure the two women but Kyoko hummed again.

"I think I'll just tell them the truth. I mean, I want to be with Kuon so that's one of the challenges that comes with being with him. I'll have to think about what I really want to say," she said as she looked off into space. "Maybe I could talk about Corn."

"Corn?" Kanae asked as Kuon grinned, "Like food?" Kanae huffed and placed two fingers on her forehead as if predicting a headache. "If this is some weird story about a vegetable then I really don't want to hear about it. Just knowing that my friend's in a relationship is bad enough, I'm still convinced that most men will just eat women up for dinner."

Kuon sighed, "Then I'll have to earn your trust Kotonami-san, for the little I actually do know about women, it's good to make a good impression on their best friend and Kyoko talks about you highly."

Kanae raised an eyebrow, "Bring it," she challenged him causing Kuon to grin and Kyoko to look surprised.

"I really do intend to do so," Kuon said in a very confident manner.

Kyoko smiled at her boyfriend. She was glad that she had given love another chance. Being with Kuon was far scarier than being with Shou, there were so many new challenges that they would have to face together as well, but it was far more exciting as well. Maybe it was true what they said, the greater the challenge the more rewards you received from it.

AN2: Thank you to everybody who supports this fic. Special shout out to the reviewers of the previous chapter: brennakai, DreamIdol, EmmaLasagna, and sara