Chapter 33

Historically, food has had a very important part in every culture. Peace talks are held over intimate dinners, treaties are signed during large meals, banquets are held for celebrations of all variety, feasts and parties are planned and executed to bring friends and enemies together. Yes, food is very important to everyone, especially Kuu Hizuri… a very healthy eater. Kuon Hizuri… not so much, except when being served food specially created and cooked by his favorite little pixie.

The thing about Kyoko's cooking is that she puts all of her love and care into it, especially when cooking for people very dear to her heart and dear to those that are close to her. People that she is thankful for, regardless of their despicable behavior towards her. She weaves her special magic and they just cannot refuse her kindness.

Kuu never needed any help in the appetite department; Kuon will devour anything she puts in front of him regardless of its condition, and now the guilt-ridden Juli would soon be having the same experience that her son had the first time he'd ever tasted her cooking. After all, where did one think that Kuon got his minuscule appetite from in the first place? It wasn't just Juli's abominable cooking that killed his appetite, he honestly didn't have much of one to begin with. Just as she carefully planned and cooked light, filling dishes for her calorie phobic best friend, she did the same for Kuon and Juli as the pair sat quietly in the living room and she and Kuu did all the prep work.

Kuu had been silent for a short while, but as they danced their little ballet around the kitchen in harmony, they began to finally talk.

"Sorry about how everything started, Kyoko." He mumbled as his knife expertly sliced through an onion quickly.

Kyoko looked up from the pot that had Kuon's favorite soup starting and smiled softly. "It's okay Hizuri-san, I understand."

Kuu stopped chopping. "You don't have to call me that. I already said you could call me Dad. At the very least, could you do that for me?"

She glanced over at him and sighed. "Are you sure that's okay?"

He nodded. "You know, I'm sure she wouldn't mind if you called her Mom." He nodded towards the living room.

Kyoko stared at the warming soup pot with a hidden sad look. She shook her head. "No… I'm not sure that would be such a good idea right now." She murmured.

Kuu nodded knowingly. He and Juli had discussed it before they arrived and his lovely wife did say she would give it a try, but it seemed as though Juli was going to have to make this effort on her own. "That's okay, you can call her Juli. I know there won't be any problem with that." He assured her.

Kyoko nodded. "Thank you for the flowers. You really didn't need to go through all the trouble." She told him, referring to the large bouquet they had brought as a housewarming/apology gift.

~xoxo~

Neither one of them knew exactly where to start. Kuon was still simmering beneath the surface due to the previous evening. To him, it was still too soon the have to deal with any of this, but Kyoko insisted. Actually, anytime in the future was too soon, in his opinion. It felt like he'd been taken from a comfortable bed and thrown into a pot of boiling oil. Perhaps he was being a bit melodramatic too. Kyoko seemed to be infinitely less bothered than he had been about the entire situation. She even seemed understanding about it.

Actually, thinking about this messed up relationship he had with his parents and his family, he was starting to feel a bit guilty. Until a few months ago, technically Kyoko had no family at all. From what she'd told him, she'd discovered that her own mother hadn't even registered her birth. To compound that with denying her existence on national television, he knew for a fact that he would have done more than just cried. He couldn't even begin to imagine not having anyone at all until a father decided to pop up.

"Is all that true?.. What Lory and your father said about Kyoko's family?" Juli had been told almost everything, but honestly was still having her doubts that anyone could be that unfortunate without being a complete mess.

Kuon glanced over to her and back at the kitchen entryway. "Her mother saying she didn't have any children on television, her abuse, or not registering her birth?" He accidentally let that one slip or maybe it wasn't an accident.

Well, that was new. They certainly left that part out, the abuse, and not registering her birth. Juli let out a sharp, quiet gasp, and shook her head. "She did that? How could a mother do that to their own child?" A tear slipped when she asked.

He nodded. "She only met her father a few months ago." He sighed and sat back on the sofa. "I don't know what I would do. I think she's always known about her mother. The woman wasn't exactly secretive about how she felt about her."

Juli hid her face in her hands. "What she must think of me with how I treated her." She lamented.

Kuon shook his head and chuckled wryly. "She's not that way. She doesn't think of it at all, maybe. In fact, she was actually very understanding about it. I didn't want you and Dad here today. This meeting was her idea." He told her truthfully.

"Oh Kuon… I am so sorry. I was so horrible to her." She sobbed.

"I'm not the one you need to be apologizing to. Somehow, I kind of expected that behavior from you. It's not something that bothers me anymore, you've always been that way, but you did that to Kyoko and I can't just stand by when it concerns her." It wasn't an insult, it was just the cold truth of an honest adult to a childish one. "She says it doesn't bother her, and she acts like it doesn't, but sometimes I think that's all it is. I think it really does bother her and she is just acting, that she's been acting her whole life. Acting like nothing bothers her. Acting like how other people think she should. I think she's still got that little piece of her that she's protecting with acting, still not allowing anyone else to see that part… just in case they might decide to hurt her again… I don't want to be that person to disappoint her or hurt that part of her, and I won't let anyone else do it either." He gave Juli a look that made it clear that his own parents would be on that list of enemies if they ever decided to hurt Kyoko too.

At that moment, with the look that Kuon gave her, and his complete honesty, she felt her heart swell with pride and break at the same time. He was truly a man, he was no longer her little boy, and she couldn't have been more proud of him. She chuckled in her tears and shook her head with a small smile. She sighed out and caressed his hair. "Then Baby, you had better give me some grandchildren that I can spoil very soon or I am going to go insane not knowing what to do with all of this motherly energy I haven't been able to get rid of."

Kuon just looked at her in shock. It couldn't have been that easy, could it? Well no, this was something that had been brewing for a long time in her heart. She'd only accepted this outcome because of recent events. Last night was the swan's song of her image of him still being her little baby boy. She had no choice. Children grow up and Kuon was now a man, a very good one at that.