My God this was a long chapter! But it holds things in it that I've wanted to write about for the longest time. We're coming towards the end of the story now, probably around 2 or 3 more chapters and an epilogue. And do I hear sequel bells? Yes I do ;)

Hope you enjoy it and also, big news, I finally got myself a tumblr account! My blog name is the same as my fanfiction name: midnightstarlightwrites so go and look me up! You can ask me questions about this fic and others I might have plans for (aka the sequel), send me requests for one shots, and I tend to put sneak previews of my latest chapters up there as well as little headcannon ramblings! Go follow me and ask away!

For now- on to the next chapter though!

Chapter 16

His band mates patted him on the back for a good days work and headed out the door, Shoko smiled at him in the way that meant she thought they had another hit on their hands. Not that he needed anyone to confirm that to him, he always had a hit on his hands after all. His latest album was still on fire in the charts, all of the singles he released from that album held spots in the top ten and this latest single, a secret special release to say "thank you" to his adoring fans (Shoko's idea, not his) was going to throw Japan into a massive fan-girl frenzy the likes of which had probably never been seen before. Everyone around him was eagerly and happily awaiting the moment the single was unleashed to the unsuspecting public and media.

But Sho had been in a foul mood all week.

He knew Shoko had picked up on it, but this was something that ran deeper than his usual furies where that damned Kyoko was concerned. Their meeting had wounded his ego surely, but there was more to it than that. The way she had looked at him, the image of her large eyes staring like she had seen him in a whole new way, had kept him up at night. It was burned into his brain and the worst part is that he had no idea why it was bothering him so much. They'd had worse fights, what the hell kind of difference did that one moment make?

"Sho, the car's going to be outside ready to take you back home soon. We should get going." Shoko's voice called out to him softly, the pity laced in her tone made him bristle. Honestly it was as if she were treating him like some pathetic injured animal.

"No I don't feel like going home tonight, that's boring. Let's go back to your place." He replied placing his guitar back into its case, slinging it over his shoulder, and wrapping his arm around Shoko suggestively.

"Sho-" Shoko admonished weakly, her eyebrows crinkling into a frown.

"What? You can't spend a few hours entertaining me? I'm asking for a few beers, not a black diamond encrusted guitar- although that would be nice once my album goes platinum."

Shoko chuckled, rolling her chocolate brown eyes as they made their way through the halls of the studio, down to the main lobby. "Fine, fine, you can stay but you know what? You have to promise me to be out of bed on time for once." It was a foolish request really; one they both know he wouldn't keep.

"I'm not promising anything; the studio will wait for me if I want to sleep in an extra hour. I'm their headline act after all. And after that mess they pulled with the trains they're lucky I don't jet off to Hawaii using the company credit card." He replied coolly, ignoring the girlish giggling of the workers who passed them by in the halls- he was far too used to that sort of attention by now. Besides, all that adoration hadn't been doing its usual ego-stroking job since his meeting with Kyoko at the train station, another infuriating thing he didn't quite know how to handle.

As Shoko signed them out of the building, Sho went outside to wait for the car, hoping it wouldn't take too long to arrive for no reason other then he was impatient. Luckily it was an unusually warm night, so warm he didn't even really need his jacket. There was a soft breeze that tugged at his blonde hair and played with his collar. He shrugged his guitar case further up his shoulders and despite how much he wanted not to think about it- his thoughts strayed once again to that moment outside the train station.

A part of him wondered why he should even care about what that stupid girl thought and felt about him. Another argued that she had always been his; she had always been obsessed with him in one way or another. Kyoko had been his first fan and then the first rival who had actually acknowledged him as an enemy...though eventually that idiot Ren Tsuruga recognised that he posed a threat.

He felt an insatiable need inside him, the need to make sure she remained a rival. It was awesome, being on top, but it also got rather boring at times. The thrill of a number one hit had lessened over time. He wanted more challenge, he wanted someone to beat, and he wanted to feel like he'd earned (however shallowly) his "number one in all Japan" spot rather than just held it as was now the norm. Kyoko couldn't possibly hope to beat him, but the intense competition she brought with her made things interesting, kept him on his toes- kept his creative side active. But she was no real threat to his number one spot. And besides, it was fun to come up with ways to enrage and confuse her. It was always satisfying to crush her attempts to defeat him.

If he lost the only person who actually made the effort to challenge him anymore, he'd probably lose his mind to boredom.

"Sho?"

He turned his head to the side on instinct, to face the voice calling out to him.

At first he felt rage rise up like bile in his chest, mainly because he thought his mind must've been playing tricks on him, and he felt disgusted at the idea that a girl could have such power over him. But then he took a breath and blinked. Time went on and Kyoko was still standing in front of him.

At first neither of them said anything, the gentle evening breeze which previously floated around suddenly felt oppressive, hot and uncomfortable and humid. The blurred lights from the street lamps and the cars passing by became blinding and garish.

Sho turned away to face the street, looking for that damned car. "What do you want?" He snapped.

"I need to talk to you." Her voice feigned confidence. The idea that she seemed insecure made him feel better about the whole situation, made him feel more in control.

"Do you? You were in quite a hurry to get away from me the other day. Now you wanna talk? Why do you even think I give a damn about what you have to say?" He sneered now turning back to her. He narrowed his eyes.

Kyoko sighed. She knew this wasn't going to be easy, nothing with Sho ever was. Luckily there were some habits that, no matter how much she tried to bury them, couldn't be forgotten. She reached into her backpack and began fumbling around. Sho watched her suspiciously.

"I have pudding. I thought we could go somewhere quiet and talk. I'm guessing you haven't had this in a while." Kyoko gestured towards him, the pots of pudding in her hand like an odd little sacrifice.

At that moment, Shoko walked out of the studio. The sight before her caused a mixture of extreme and sudden emotions. She glanced around nervously to make sure there were no paparazzi in the area just in case a fight broke out between the two. The tension between the them was palpable and Shoko was having a hard time coming up with the answers to why Kyoko was there and, even more curiously, why on Earth she was holding pudding up to Sho like he was an angry bear and the pudding was a distraction from mauling her.

"Sho? What's going on?" Shoko asked timidly, looking back and forth between the two. Neither of them broke eye contact to look at her. After a moment, Sho spoke.

"Hold the car for me." Sho said and began walking back into the studio. Shoko's perfectly plucked eyebrows hit her hairline when she saw Kyoko begin to follow him.

"W-what?! But Sho I-" Shoko stuttered, walking towards them both. Her manager's instinct kicked in. Nothing good could come out of this situation, nothing.

"Shoko." He turned towards her for the first time since she arrived at the scene. He didn't say anything else, his eyes spoke volumes, and all Shoko could do was fall silent. No matter how uneasy her feelings were, no matter how much she knew that something bad was about to happen, Shoko instantly saw that this was something they both needed to do.

She also knew that once Sho had decided to do something, nobody in the known universe could ever hope to change his mind, so any efforts she made to protest more would fall on deaf ears.

All she could do was watch, and hope for the best, as the pair walked inside.

Kuu shuffled into the kitchen in his favourite blue bunny slippers, the ones he only wore on special father-related occasions or when he had a dream about his beloved son. He still remembered the Christmas when a four year old Kuon had proudly presented his mother and father a matching pair of the slippers (Julie had the pink pair). Oh what fun they'd had, pretending to swap each other's around. The look of outrage on Kuon's face still made him chuckle to this day.

"No dad, don't! You'll break mum's slippers with your big clown feet!"

Kuu sighed at the fond memory, before his tired eyes darkened into a frown. He'd had a nightmare that Kuon had finally come back home, only to have a sea of food pick him up and wash him away out of his and Julie's arms and back to Japan. The nightmare was made even more insulting by the fact that he hadn't been able to eat any of the food.

So now he'd awoken two hours earlier then he needed to, hungry and desperately missing his son. He groaned and ran a large hand over his tired and scratchy face when he read the time on the kitchen clock as five in the morning. It was still dark outside. He should not be awake at this hour when he had a rare day off of work.

Flicking the coffee maker on, he pulled open the fridge and found a pile of some of his favourite snacks. He might as well make the most of this time awake to have an early breakfast. His mood brightened slightly when he realised he had the opportunity to have a second breakfast too.

He had just popped the first bite of a grilled salmon rice ball into his mouth when his phone began to ring. He frowned in confusion, one of his cheeks full of food and puffed out like a hamster, and checked the caller ID- it was unknown. Who could be calling him at this ungodly hour? Perhaps it was one of those cold calling companies, or a fan who had somehow gotten hold of his personal number- that had happened before- and his manager had told him to never answer calls from unknown numbers.

But surely cold callers didn't ring so early and over-zealous fans would probably want to call him at a time when he was more likely to be awake. He debated with himself for a few more moments, swallowed his rice and quickly answered the phone before it went to voicemail.

"Um, Hello?" Kuu said in a low voice, still slightly scratchy from sleep. His reply was silence, which stretched out for so long that Kuu pulled the phone away from his ear and checked it to make sure the phone hadn't disconnected. Perhaps his theory had been incorrect; after all he did have fans in several different time zones. "Is anybody there?"

Then, quite suddenly, a deep voice came through the receiver. A voice which made the distinguished actor nearly drop his phone.

"Hello...dad."

Kuu stood up so rapidly that the kitchen stool fell to the ground with a crash. He didn't notice. His face paled, his free hand gripped the marble island so tightly that it would have been no surprise if it cracked in half. If this was somebody's idea of a sick joke he would hunt them down and make them pay dearly. But if it was really him, if somehow fate had decided to shine a light on the Hizuri household after so many years... his heart hammered in his chest.

"K-Kuon?" Kuu spluttered, so unsure and hardly daring to get his hopes up. Despite that, he couldn't help the tiniest hint of warmth growing in his heart. "Is that you?"

After a few more moments of unbearable silence, which seemed to stretch for all eternity, the voice responded once again.

"Yes dad, it's really me."

He shouldn't have really questioned it, he'd know that voice anywhere. The instant he'd heard it, that deep fatherly instinct had told him it was his son. But his mind wouldn't let him dare believe it, that his dear long lost son had called him up seemingly out of the blue, and had called him dad rather than Hizuri-san or anything else. Could this mean what he thought it meant?

Tears began forming in Kuu's eyes; a beautiful sadness wrenched his heart at hearing his beloved son's voice once again. To have seen Kuon once since he was fifteen had been an agony like he'd never known, but it numbed slightly the further from Japan he got, the busier his life became. Now the bitter sweetness of being called "dad" for the first time in over five years washed over him as the tears spilled out from his slightly crinkled eyes. But he kept his voice steady, he knew his sadness, his longing, would upset Kuon and that was the last thing he wanted. He wanted this to be a happy moment.

Then a thought occurred to him which struck fear into his heart with all the suddenness of a lightning bolt, destroying any other thought.

"Son, is anything the matter?" He asked, unable to keep the worried tone out of his voice.

"Ah-no. No nothing is the matter. I'm sorry to call you out of the blue like this. It must be early." Kuon replied softly. He sounded unsure, even awkward. Kuu didn't know whether to laugh or cry harder at his son- what a beautiful soul he had, always caring about others.

"You aren't disturbing me at all Kuon, you can call me at any time. You could call me during the apocalypse and I would find a working phone to respond to you." Reel it in Kuu, calm down. Don't overdo it. Kuu thought and coughed, carrying on in a much calmer tone. "And besides, I was awake anyway." He didn't reveal why.

"Thanks dad" He said it again and Kuu's heart lit up like a million candles. "I suppose you're wondering why I'm calling...and why I'm calling you dad again."

Kuu pondered his response for a few moments. "Well yes, but you don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

"No it's ok. I just felt it was about time. I'm sorry that it took so long."

Kuu frowned, this time in anger "Kuon." He said seriously. "I am not going to lie, your mother and I have missed you an extraordinary amount. But your happiness is all that has ever mattered to us. If you have reached a point in your life where you're at peace with all that has happened, where you are content and have found enough confidence enough to want to contact us, then we will support you like we supported you going to Japan. Are you well?"

There was another round of silence before Kuon replied. "Yes dad, I'm doing well. Very well actually."

Kuu's heart leapt with joy.

"Well then that's all that matters to your mother and I. Now what's the problem? Come on, you wouldn't call me if there wasn't something you needed to talk to your old man about!"

"Well... I was calling because I have a question. It's- it's about you and mother. How is mother anyway?" He asked, his tone conveying a hint of concern.

"Your mother's fine, she's asleep at the moment. Although I might wake her, I doubt she'd forgive me if you I let her sleep through your phone call, would you like to speak to her?"

"No! I mean yes- but- I don't want to wake her up. I wouldn't want to disturb her." Kuon seemed to be battling with himself and Kuu couldn't help but chuckle at his son's antics. "Please don't wake her up on my account."

"Son, don't be ridiculous. You know full well she'd much rather have her beauty sleep disrupted than to miss hearing your voice again. Besides she's so beautiful, she doesn't need beauty sleep; I can hardly take how stunning she is as it stands..." He trailed off, daydreaming about his lovely wife slumbering like a Disney princess upstairs.

"Daaad" Kuon whined and Kuu could tell his son had put his palm against his face, as his voice was coming through slightly muffled. He chuckled, his heart warming further to hear his son complaining at his gushing- just like he used to. "Ok you can wake her up, just stop talking like that. It hasn't gotten any less embarrassing."

"Ah Kuon, Kuon." Kuu shook his head with a rueful smile. "One day you'll fall in love and you'll have all of these thoughts about the woman who holds your heart. You should never be afraid to say such things to them. Faint heart never won fair lady."

"Actually dad" Kuon paused slightly before continuing "well- that's why I called you. Do you remember the girl who chaperoned you whilst you visited Japan?" Kuon replied and now sounded suspiciously shy, but in a way which had Kuu grinning with glee.

"Ah yes, dear Kyoko-chan. Yes of course I remember her, I still check in on her from time to time. How is she?"

"You keep in contact with her?" Kuon sounded as though his eyebrows had risen considerably.

"Of course, she's a wonderful girl, amazing talent." Kuu tried to keep the suspicious teasing lilt out of his voice, and failed miserably. The President had kept him completely in the know about his sons blooming relationship with the young orange-haired actress, but Kuon didn't know that. He had to play it cool. "Why do you aaask?"

"...Well. I'm- taking her out on a date tomorrow night. And- well- I was calling you to ask you, where did you take mother on your first date? You always described it as a fairytale but you never actually told me what you did."

Kuu froze, feeling like his head was about to explode from fatherly-affection-overload. In all his twenty-one years, Kuon had never once come to him for dating advice. At first he'd been a little unsure of the President's rendition of the blooming relationship between Kyoko and Kuon, knowing how big of a romantic Lory could be and the way he tended to get carried away. But it was this moment, where Kuon himself came to him for advice after all these years; he knew this had to be true love.

He'd definitely made the right decision, planning their wedding with Lory.

"Our first date? Well I so many different options open to me. The day itself was a fairytale of course, but I have to be honest son- I was a nervous wreck beforehand."

"Really?" Kuon seemed surprised. "I can't picture you that way."

Kuu chuckled "No well I'd won your mothers heart long before you came along, so of course I'm a lot calmer now. Though I still have my moments. Just a few months ago a popular musician fell madly in love with your mother, even daring to go as far as to force a kiss from her at a party we both attended!"

"What?" Kuon spluttered in shock. "What did you do?"

"Well I was halfway across the room, ready to choke the life out of the scumbag, but your mother...well she can be quite intimidating at times. Let's just say he had a fairly severe concussion and a threat of a sexual harassment lawsuit if he ever came near her again. Lucky for him, if I'd have gotten a hold of him, he'd be in the ground right now." Kuu gritted his teeth at the memory and then shook his head. "Ah forgive me son, I'm not a violent person by any stretch, except for where you and your mother are concerned. Love, it does things to a man. Well you should know right?"

"Daad" Kuon whined again, not knowing that the more he whinged like that, the more Kuu was inclined to tease him. It was strange and wonderful, how they'd already fallen back into their old dynamic, and Kuu was determined not to make the same mistakes this time.

"Ok, ok son. Right, our first date. Well I booked several high class romantic restaurants in advance and let your mother choose what she wanted to have. This was before I was famous, but your mother was a rapidly rising star and had many suitors, so it was quite a feat I must say. I took out most of my savings to help pay for it. In the end she chose Italian, so I took her to this popular romantic restaurant, very high class service. But she seemed almost bored. I was too nervous to make any real conversation; I kept making small talk and blushed like an idiot when she started trying to flirt with me. I think we were half way through the main course when I came to the stark realisation of how all of her suitors had wined and dined her the same way, concentrating on what they thought she must want rather than looking at who she really was.

"See most people, even to this day; think that your mother must be a woman who enjoys nothing but the finest things. She's a model so she must always watch what she eats, she's a fashion designer and an entrepreneur so she must settle for nothing but the highest class of everything, the best imported wines, the fanciest foods, the most delicate and most expensive fabrics. But your mother didn't grow up that way; she grew up in a small town with a simple family life and that earthliness has never truly left her. I noticed she was bored of course, but I also noticed she was playful from the way she tried to flirt with me; sentimental from the animated way she showed me the steel locket her best friend gave her; disheartened that I seemed to be like every single man she'd given a chance to. Like every other man I had put her in a box of 'this is what models are like, so I'm going to treat her the way I think models want to be treated, rather than asking her what she wants', but that's not love son, that's not knowing a woman. It's wonderful to wine and dine and shower the woman you love with gifts, but you must know who she is as a person. True love is knowing the other person, giving and receiving in equal measure. If you give something, not even something material but anything to someone that they can't appreciate, then your relationship becomes unequal, unbalanced. It's worse if you don't even try.

"So I asked your mother if she could do anything in the world at that very moment, what would she want to do. She seemed startled but, after thinking for a few moments, said that she would like to go ride bumper cars at the fun fair across town. I will always remember how wide her eyes got when I threw my money down on the table in the middle of our main course, grabbed her hand and pulled her into the nearest taxi I could find. She wanted to go on the bumper cars and so we went on the bumper cars. In our wedding vows she said that that was the moment she fell in love with me..." Kuu trailed off, a little out of breath and mesmerised by the memory. "So you see son, what matters most is that you do something you'll both enjoy, something which will create a memory that you can both cherish. Relationships are about partnerships and sometimes about compromise. But they should also be fun too, remember that and I think you'll be alright."

It was a long while before Kuon spoke again; to the point where Kuu checked to make sure his phone hadn't run out of battery.

"Thanks dad, you've given me a lot to think about. I've been a bit stuck this past week, hopefully I can do something that she'll like."

"I have no doubt you'll come up with the most amazing, beautiful, romantic idea ever son. Now go out and sweep her off her feet!" Kuu cried out, gesturing fantastically right at the moment Julie stepped into the room, rubbing her eyes tiredly.

"Kuu dear, why are you crying out so early in the morning? And why is the kitchen chair knocked over?"

Kuu beamed at his wife, walking over and instantly embracing her in a fierce hug, earning a few more questions from his beloved.

"Dad? Is everything alright? What's going on?" Kuon's voice came out from the receiver and Julie's eyes widened; much like Kuu's had before. Kuu beamed at his wife as her eyes slowly began to fill with tears, as her hands flew up to her mouth in shock.

"I can't talk now, son." Kuu said softly, happiness radiating from every fibre of his being. "Your mother wants to talk to you."

"So what's so important that you had to show up, where nobody wants you, and interrupt my going home after a long day's work?" Sho sneered as he closed the door to one of the studio's private conference rooms behind him.

Kyoko shuffled sheepishly from one foot to another. What she said next had Sho nearly falling through the floor in shock.

"I wanted to apologise to you."

Was this some sort of trick? A ruse? Was she mocking him? Did she take him for an idiot? Honestly Sho had no idea what game she was playing.

He snatched the pudding and spoon out of her grasp and devoured it, once again savouring the delicious taste. Sometimes it was tough, having to cover up his love of certain desserts, but he had an image to maintain.

For a few minutes there was nothing but silence between them, and the relentless ticking of the conference room clock. They hadn't even turned on the lights, only the street lamps provided the room any semblance of light. All that could be seen were shadows and silhouettes. Kyoko didn't really know how to go on, she'd only concentrated on getting Sho to agree to speak to her- she didn't even think about what might happen after. She cursed inwardly at her own stupidity. Once again she'd made a mess of things.

She took a deep breath, closing her large amber eyes as she did so, and gathered up all of her courage.

"Yes, I want to apologise to you. For all of our lives I've ignored who you really are, I've always seen you as this person that I fabricated in my head, as this heroic and princely character. But you aren't really like that. In fact, I don't really know who you are at all. I fell in love with an illusion and was heartbroken and blamed you completely when you showed me how wrong I was and the illusion was shattered. I forced you to be someone who you wasn't and hated you for not being that person. That wasn't fair on you and I apologise."

Kyoko gulped at the next bit "If I'd have known, had seen who you really were, I would rather have been totally alone at school. Don't misunderstand me when I say that it was my fault for putting you in a box, don't think that I'm holding myself responsible for you actions. I'm not. What you did to me, how you took advantage, it was completely wrong of you. It was foul and villainous and I will always detest you for doing something so horrid. I am not forgiving you totally, I don't think I can every fully forgive you for your actions. But I am going to move on from them. What you said to me the other day made me realise that we might never be able to reach a point where we can repair any semblance of a friendship we once had, because we never had a real friendship to begin with."

"What are you saying?" Sho replied, clutching the now empting pudding pot so tightly that it began to fold in on itself. He began shaking. The low light meant Kyoko was unable to see the dangerous flash of anger in his light brown eyes.

"I'm saying, Sho, that I no longer want revenge on you. I want nothing but peace for both of us. I want us to learn from our mistakes and move on with our lives. I'm tired of hate; I want to feel love again." Kyoko dropped her head, and exhaled the breath she didn't know she'd been holding in, her bangs fell down and obscured her view so that she didn't see Sho moving towards her.

The pudding cup and spoon clattered to the floor as Sho lunged forward, pinning the young actress up against the wall. Kyoko's eyes widened in alarm and she looked up at him as if he'd gone mad. His face, screwed up in rage and contempt, made her grow cold.

"Sho?! What do you think you're doing?! L- let go of me!"

"So that's it is it? You expect me to allow you to just give up and walk out with your tail between your legs?" Sho growled, his voice fierce, his eyes now burning like a furious forest fire.

"No that's not-"

"Let's get one thing clear alright? You. Belong. To. ME. You have ALWAYS belonged to me. You've always loved me or hated me, you think I'm going to let you just out and out abandon me like that? Like you don't care anymore? Don't lie to me! Of course you care!" And now his eyes were slightly wide in fear and shock, as well as the lingering explosion of fury.

"Sho- you're hurting me." Kyoko struggled against him, moving her arms up and pushing his shoulders away from him with all the forced she could muster. Sho stumbled backwards a step, giving Kyoko some room. The young actress felt her own anger burst forth from within. "How the hell can you think I care when you pull this sort of crap? How could ANYONE care for you if they saw the asshole that you really are? I'm sick of this! That's why I want this OVER you hear me? So punch me all you like, throw me against the wall, beat me near to death if you want but you will never break my spirit or will to get away from you! Nothing will weaken my resolve. I've had it SHO! I told you I don't want hate anymore, I want love back in my life and it's something you've never shown me in all the years we've known each other. And now I'm telling you I'm done with you because that's what I am!"

She turned to storm out, utterly furious with herself for thinking for one moment that she could have a mature and reasonable parting of the ways with this man child. How could she constantly be so naive, so foolish? Baka, baka, baka, will you EVER learn? She cursed at herself once more.

"Don't."

It was the weakness in his voice which made her stop, just for a second. Despite herself, she couldn't help but turn around. Never in her life had she heard Sho speak that way.

"Just don't ok?" He stood in front of her, his eyes wide and helpless, like a lost child. "If you give up on me- if you stop fighting what the hell am I supposed to do? Who am I supposed to fight?"

Kyoko fought the urge to simultaneously laugh and cry. Pity and sadness enveloped her, for she couldn't understand why; why did he feel the need to fight with others? Why did he need that challenge?

"I don't know." She replied honestly, and a part of her heart broke. "But it can't be me anymore."

And with that she opened the door of the conference room and walked away from him, never once looking back.

Whew! So much drama in one chapter! So did you like? Let me know and go review pleases! I love writing Kuu's character :D P.S don't forget to go follow my new midnightstarlightwrites tumblr blog! :D

Until the next time! Xx