Chapter 29

She wasn't really sure of the woman sitting on her temporary bed, asking all of the personal questions that no one had any business asking let alone knowing the answers to, except for Kuon in her opinion. How many men have you been with before Kuon? How did you two meet? What are your goals in life? Are you still a virgin? How far have you gone with your previous boyfriend? Then there were the financial responsibility questions, and career goal questions. It would seem that Juli didn't trust her intentions towards Kuon. Does she think I would actually use him to further my career? She grimaced in distaste inwardly. She wasn't about to let Juli see her dissatisfaction over the situation. She suspected that in her position, she would probably ask similar questions.

Kuon really hadn't heard any of the main conversation. He had been downstairs helping Kuu in the kitchen; however, he would need to have a long talk with his parents later. He'd not yet had the time to discuss everything that had happened in his life or anything that Kyoko had done for him. She was a big part of his life now and he honestly didn't want either of his parents rejecting someone so significant to him. He had only arrived the day before and had just enough time to recover from the time change. His mother and father had worked the prior day, and he'd made it home on his own to be admitted entrance to the house by the housekeeper. Just like it had always been. Him home alone with the staff while his parents worked during the day. Admittedly a little depressing.

He sighed at those thoughts as he finally stood outside her door now, contemplating his importance in their lives. Yes, he was their son, but it still seemed that the only time he was important to them was when it was convenient and they had time for it. After that point, they would smother him with affection. They would lock out the rest of the world and focus only on him. It was either one extreme or the other.

As soon as his mother's voice took on a strange tone that he'd noticed she only used when she was speaking to someone that she felt wasn't worthy of her time, he'd had enough. The partially opened door flung open, Kuon rushed in and grabbed Kyoko's hand, pulling her from her seat on the bed, and wrapped his arms around her. "That's enough..." He growled at the stunned older female in the room. "She cares. That's all that matters." He told Juli as he hurriedly escorted Kyoko from the room, down the hall, down the staircase, and out the door. He stopped, pulled his phone out and called for a taxi. He'd arranged for them to pick them up at the park nearby.

As they walked, it was silent. "Sorry..." She murmured.

He stopped and pulled her into another hug. "No… Don't you ever apologize for something that wasn't your fault, Kyoko. I'm sorry I let that happen. I'd forgotten how she was." He kissed her temple and sighed out. "How about we find somewhere good to eat and relax a while?" He gave her a small smile, ignoring the buzzing phone in his hand. He pressed decline after he'd noticed the caller name. He was not going to answer it if it wasn't from Lory, Ms. Woods or Yukihito.

She looked at him curiously.

He looked a little irritated. "Just a telephone solicitor." He lied.

She nodded quietly. "They can be pretty annoying." She commented knowingly. Of course she knew it was either Kuu or Juli, but most likely it had been Juli. She would ease it out of him later. She knew there was more to his behavior than he was letting on, especially after the little interrogation that his mother had put her through. Ten minutes later would find them in the taxi on their way downtown to a nice little family restaurant that the driver had suggested.

They sat quietly in their little booth, near the window, picking at their meal. They were actually sharing it. Kyoko felt that there was just too much food on the plate for one person when she noticed the portion sizes before they were seated. It wasn't too bad. They'd just split the enormous cheeseburger and mountain of fries in half and shared the salad.

"She's always been like that…" He mumbled. "Sorry about my mom. I think she goes overboard out of guilt or something." He commented after taking a sip of his unsweetened iced tea.

Kyoko nodded, silently encouraging him to spill his thoughts.

"She would always leave me with my cousin's family when her and Dad couldn't be there, before Rick came along. They would always say things that bothered me a lot." He sighed quietly.

"Were they part of the problem?" Kyoko gently prodded, taking a french fry from the plate and nibbling after dipping it in barbecue sauce.

He nodded. "They were actually the entire problem." He leaned back in the seat a little. "Cedric was the one I was fighting with when Rick died." He finally confessed.

Cedric Bennett? A chill of hidden rage slithered up her spine as she thought of her new co-star. No wonder he was in such a mood when I told him. She gave him a glance from the corner of her eye.

"My mother always believed that family wouldn't do something like that, and even though my aunt was horrible to me behind her back, she was always nice to my mother and father. She would be nice to my family when my parents or grandfather were around, but the second they turned their backs, that snake would be spitting out her poison at me along with my cousin joining in. I suppose I really can't blame Cedric for his behavior towards me and my family, after all it was the only thing he'd grown up knowing." He sighed and took a bite from his half of the burger.

"Do you think she ever knew about it?" Kyoko asked between the sips of her water.

Kuon shook his lightly. "I really don't think that anyone actually knew. Maybe Dad, after I left… but I don't think anyone actually told them. I'm pretty sure I didn't." He told her, pushing their half-eaten meal to the edge of the table for the server to clear away, and sipped his tea again. "I didn't want to make trouble for them."

She could relate. She nodded in agreement. She could understand not wanting to be a bother for the adults around her when she was younger, but Juli and Kuu were there, they were his parents. They should have at least noticed or made some kind of effort to find out what was bothering him so much. "Did you ever tell them?" She asked curiously with a gentle tone.

He shook his head as he pulled out his wallet and grabbed the check. "I think I might have mentioned it at some point. Maybe told them I didn't need anyone to babysit me anymore. I think they just chalked it up to me maturing or something like that. By that time I had Rick." He stood, held out his hand and they left to pay the check and find somewhere to stay for maybe a couple of days or however long it took for his mother not to try and dig her jealous claws into Kyoko.

Maybe it was finally time to tell her everything. She seemed to be blaming everyone, but the responsible parties for what had happened. After all, she wasn't present for the original events or anything that had truly damaged their son. Not to mention the facts that her own family kept their skulduggery from her to spare her fragile psyche. It was time to tell her exactly what kind of little bastard her nephew was and how much of a psychotic bitch her sister was. He wondered if she would actually believe him. With that thought he pulled out his phone and made a call to one of his only allies in this mess, his father-in-law. After the evening they'd had, he firmly believed that Kuon would be keeping Kyoko out of the house until the next day, perhaps a couple of days. He did have his wallet and phone with him. He could actually see Kuon taking her to dinner and getting a hotel room for a couple of nights. That would probably be for the best, for now. Juli needed to be brought up to date on everything and they really didn't need to worry about Yukihito, he was down for the count. The jet-lag was hitting him hard.