AN: After doing some thinking, I decided to use passion as my main draw to write what I write 😊 I hope you enjoy it as well though 😊

Chapter Three – The Beast

Kyoko looked around her as she sat in a very formal manner at the diner. She hadn't been to an actual American diner before and this was an experience she had been looking forward to with Kuon, but sometimes you needed to change your plans despite how much that would mean giving up on expectations. She looked up at Kuu with a fire sparked behind her eyes before looking down again.

"The conversation that I want to have with you isn't the most pleasant, Father. I hope that us being here doesn't…"

"Don't worry about that, the manager here is a family friend," Kuu said trying to smile through it, he saw how unamused Kyoko was. Something must have happened during the few hours between Kuon running from the news and Kyoko meeting him here. "I take it that he's too upset to join us," Kuu said very sadly. He hadn't meant for things to turn out like this.

Kyoko picked up her drink and sipped it slowly, "Do you blame him?"

...

Kyoko had had to grab a blanket because of the dark gloom that threatened to rip apart the walls of the hotel room. She hated when Kuon was like this, she hated when she felt as if his pain was tangible and she felt it in her own body. More than the gloom though, she hated the silence.

Kyoko slowly went over to her fiancé and knelt on the bed in front of him. "Kuon?" she asked trying to reach out and get to a point where she could talk to him. She slipped her hand over his cheek and ran a thumb over his skin only to get his sad and slightly deadened eyes looking at her. "You feel like taking a walk?" she asked with a weak smile, "We could go down to the ocean. I'm not sure if there's an ocean of mermaids but I'm sure that since I'm older we could find a really good coconut drink."

Kuon shook his head but held onto her hand, he looked down again.

More silence.

"You know, I love your eyes but the emerald color seems to be a bit dimmer than usual," she told him. She took weak breaths, "Kuon, if there is anything that I can do? Anything that I can say?" she sighed and moved into his arms, letting her head rest on his strong chest. "You just keep me updated, Prince Corn," she smiled weakly. She hated how she couldn't make him instantly feel better.

...

Kyoko sighed, "Father," she said in a very formal manner, "Please do not think that I'm here to be an unbiased third party to this, I am on Kuon's side." She watched Kuu looking at her with a weak nod and guilt in his eyes. "I love you, Father, but what you have done to Kuon isn't a good thing. What Julie said about him was…" Kyoko bowed her head with a weak smile.

"I don't know how I would feel if I were to find that I had a secret sibling but since my mother didn't want me anyway," she looked away trying to hold back the pain that rested across her chest whenever she thought about her childhood. However, these days she had learned to train herself that talking about her childhood also included talking about her first meeting with Corn.

"Kyoko," Kuu said as he raised a hand out to her, "I just fol—"

"I would feel replaced," Kyoko said as she turned to look at Kuu. "If you were another person then maybe I would accept that you felt that you already had one problem child and you wanted a do-over, but I thought that Kuon was loved, he cares so deeply for you two but you kept this from him. Don't you see that that shows how little you cared about him."

…..

"Will you be alright if I go out for about half an hour?" Kyoko asked as she looked at the pile of blankets and sheets that were around Kuon. This reminded her of when they had played the Heel siblings, but this was scarier. She knew the cause for this and she was glad that they were outside of Japan. There was nobody to bother them.

She just wished that she could make it better for him. He had been there when her mother had rejected her on national TV years before this, months before they started dating. Now, this man was going to be her husband someday soon and she couldn't help him.

"Kuon?" she asked, her voice shaking slightly. "Just…if you need me tell me to stay and I won't go. We can just do something else,"

Kuon lifted the blanket off of his head and tried to smile to her, "You can go," he told her with a pained look. "Enjoy yourself, alright?" he asked as he gave her one of those famous gentleman smiles though pain was swimming around in his eyes.

"I won't be too long," Kyoko promised as she kissed him again. She was scared to leave him, she was even more afraid of letting those negative emotions engulf him again. She needed to at least try to fix things though.

….

"Kyoko, you know how much I love, Kuon" Kuu said as he looked down. "If it were up to me, he would have known the instant that Julie told me the news. I know it would have been stubborn to ask him back here but he would have at least known, but Julie…I love her but," Kuu tried to explain feeling horrible that he was trying to defend himself by talking badly about his wife, the mother to his children.

"I would have guessed it was Julie," Kyoko admitted sadly, "but that doesn't mean that you couldn't have done something. Written Ren Tsuruga fan mail or something, had president explain it to him. I know that the president has known your family for years, he told me that he knew Kuon in diapers when I learned his real name."

Kuu sighed, "I feel terrible about it, Kyoko. I didn't expect for him to just show up one day."

"So, you kept lying because it was more convenient?" Kyoko asked before noticing that Kuu was paying more attention to her hand where she had put on her engagement ring for the trip rather than the food. She took a deep breath in, "Kuon proposed to me about two and a half weeks ago," she admitted, "only three people in Japan know and he was going to talk about his true identity when we told Japan about the fact we're engaged."

"I take it that Boss is one of them?" Kuu asked as Kyoko nodded and looked at her ring with a smile.

"Yes, definitely. However, not even my manager knows. I did tell my best friend about it and asked her to keep it a secret, I can trust Moko and Kuon told his manager. Yashiro is one of our good friends anyway. He's also one of three people, in my knowledge, who know what his real name is." Kyoko smiled as she thought about Yashiro's reaction and how she had begged Kuon to let her be there when he told him, the fangirling inside that car was amusing since it had also been the conversation that the two were moving in together. "The president and I are the other two."

"So, that was why he came back?" Kuu asked as he looked down completely defeated, "I've failed as a father."

"I'd have to give you a D," Kyoko said flatly. She looked into the reflection of the mirror. "Do you feel the same way as Julie-san?" she asked as she looked at her reflection. Kuu paused hesitantly. "She said that she wouldn't have allowed Kuon and I to spend some time with Katarina tomorrow because Kuon's a bad influence and he might put her in danger. I know that in the past, some people who didn't know him might think that way about him, he's told me that, but…" she looked back at the shock and horror on Kuu's face.

"She really sad that?" he twitched weakly. "How could she…" he shook his head quickly. "No. I mean, Kuon's stubborn and he's troubled but I would never say he would be dangerous…unless provoked or threatened by someone who could do damage to him…and I think, from what I've seen of Ren and the video he made, he's a great mentor. Boss even told me about how his granddaughter is taken care of by Ren."

Kyoko allowed a small smile once she realized that somehow this was Julie's thing that had been messed with and Kuu had probably been in shock. Talk about first impressions. Well, she had to feel that there was a reason why Julie was acting this way as sad as it was to admit to.

"Father, I don't approve of what you did and I can't eat because I need to get my fiancé to eat, but I'll try and persuade Kuon to give you another chance. I think that him spending some time with Katarina now doesn't make up for the years that either of them have had to spend apart, but it's better to be late than never." Kyoko took out her phone, "Father, I'll be right back and then maybe we can come up with a plan together," she said in her bold Kyoko manner.

She just needed to play her cards right and show Katarina what an amazing older brother she actually did have,

….

….

Kyoko was happy when she managed to get Kuon out of the hotel bed enough to take a drive to the beach. She had told him how he could have a drink if he wanted and then the two of them would walk along the sea coast and hold hands and he could tell her happy stories about his childhood.

It had made her light up when he agreed to it. He was wearing comfortable jeans and a long sleeved white tee that some designer sold for more money than it was worth. He also had on a blue jacket that went well with the outfit. Despite it being late January, the weather they had already experienced that day had been very hot and much cooler, what you would expect in California.

Kyoko hoped her plan would have worked.

She and Kuu had decided that Kuu would take Katarina to the Disney store which she loved and Kyoko would act like she wanted to go in and see all of the princess items. It wasn't an unusual request for Kyoko to make and Kuon always gave her what she asked for. Hopefully that was a good thing.

As they arrived at the shop, Kyoko led Kuon inside and then saw Kuu giving her a thumbs up from where he was hiding watching his children. Kyoko saw the happiness he had as he saw that Kuon was back in the United States. Hopefully she wouldn't have to stay angry at Kuu for too long.

Kyoko saw Kuon's eyes widen as he saw Katarina staring at all of the dolls on the shelf with a raised eyebrow. Despite his nerves, Kuon took a deep breath in and came towards the six year old.

"Hi," he said trying to use acting to hide his nerves as he squatted beside her, "Sorry to scare you," he said with a weak smile. "We met earlier, you're…"

Katarina looked to her side and then gave out an excited squeak. She turned to where Kuu was and waved at him as Kuon looked up. He gave a sad smile but immediately looked down at the floor. He wasn't ready to face his father just yet.

"You're my big brother, Kuon. That's what Mommy and Daddy said," Katarina said as Kuon nodded. "Daddy says you're smart and good at sports and acting and really kind. He says you're a good person."

Kuon looked down with a weak smile, at least those ideas were in her head already. "Yes, I actually work as an actor in Japan, just like Mom and Dad do here," he said before looking at the princess dolls that Katarina was looking at. "So, which one of these is your favorite? My fiancée loves Cinderella the most," he told her.

"Your fiancée is your girlfriend who agreed to marry you to become a princess, right?" Katarina said, "was it that pretty lady you were with?"

"That's her," Kuon nodded.

"Then she might want a doll too," Katarina smiled and Kuon bowed his head and laughed.

"That actually is a possibility, she adores princesses because she grew up reading fairytales. You know, she has a lot of stories about the fairy kingdom," he told her trying to find something that would be alright to talk to this little girl about. "I think I might have to get her a gift from here," he said as he looked at the dolls. "You know, you look a bit like Aurora," he pointed.

"Her name's Briar Rose," Katarina said in a way that reminded Kuon of a young Kyoko, "but thank you." She looked at the dolls and hummed whilst Kuon looked at her, watching her patiently.

"Which doll do you look like?" she asked as she pointed to the prince dolls. She pointed to one of John Smith, "Him? No."

Kuon shook his head, "Wow, I think that guy might have some more muscle mass than I do. No, I think I look like this," Kuon said as he stood to grab a doll off of the shelf. He showed Katarina a doll of the Beast but still in beast form. "I mean, you can see how similar we are," he tried to joke with her.

Kyoko watched the two of them and then looked over to Kuu with a smile which he returned.

Katarina giggled, "But he becomes the prince," she pointed to the box, "when he's kissed by Belle."

"Okay," Kuon smiled, "So I used to look like him in this form, I really did," he grinned playfully, "but I met my Princess Kyoko and she kissed me and now I look like that form of him."

Katarina giggled and smiled before looking over to see Kyoko and waved at her. Kyoko waved back and then saw Kuon calling her over.

"Kuon just said you were a real princess," she said excitedly. "He also said he'd buy you a biiiig present."

"Oh did he now," Kyoko smiled before looking at her future husband. It was the best gift to see him like this, maybe they did have a shot of having this situation work after all.

AN2:

Thank you so much to Ashenvale, Guest, and Michiyo for reviewing the previous chapters. It really means a lot to me that you took your time to do that, thank you 😊