A/N : This is a really short chapter but I think it clears a lot of confusion. Hope you enjoy!

Chapter Sixteen: Confessions

He cleared his throat.

No response. Again. Nope.

Kyouko had her whole concentration on scrubbing the floor, with her left hand.

He walked up to her, finally in her line of vision, and asked quietly, "What are you trying to do?"

"Cleaning," she said, looking up at him as if he was an idiot.

Kuon tried not to let her look dither him. She'd grown irritable in the past few weeks, and while she was doubly gentle with Kokoro, all her irksome emotions were directed at him. Not having the chance to go to work, and sitting around the house with one useless hand, and having to ask for help on a lot of things, certainly drove her up the wall.

Kuon thanked his lucky stars her sling would come off next week. The doctor, said he would decide if she needed an operation then, thought he assumes not.

"Alright," he said. He hoped he sounded normal one instead of the placating, talking to a imbecile tone- her words, not his- he assumes when talking to her. Apparently, everything he did was an outrageous act of insult against her these days. "Do you maybe want to not clean for now?"

"Why?" She asked, gaze distrusting. He noted wryly, how the mop in her hand continued to move back and forth at a scary speed.

What's with her? "I was hoping we could go out." Kuon placed his hand on her, trying to pry the mop out of her hand. "Besides, I think this is what we hire Nanako-san for."

Her grip on the mop tightened, and not so subtly, she stomped on his right foot. "Go out where?" She asked, tilting her head to the side.

Kuon bit his lips. That hurt! Crazy Woman! He withdrew his hands from her, instead snaking them around her waist as she let out a shriek. "Anywhere, You and I. Come on, we will pick Kokoro up from school on the way back."

Kyouko's gaze turned suspicious.

"I will show you Kokoro's baby picture when we come back," Kuon offered.

"Yes," she said, slumping in his arms. Admittedly, bullying her into going out with him wasn't one of his best moves when impressing a lady, but she needed to get out of the house, otherwise she would drive him and her mad. And you aren't going on a date. You are going on a mind refreshal tour.

He imitated an idiot even in his mind. Refreshal tour? You're going out, without Kokoro, it is a date.

Kuon couldn't figure out why he was frying his brain over something this simple. Date or not, Kyouko and him are never going to be in a relationship. That was the deal they made. He felt the corner of his mouth lift higher, and his grip tighten.

He turned his attention back to the women in his arms,

Her face had turned ashen, and he wondered why she was terrified of his smile. Everyone else was easily fooled when he smiled brightly at them.

"Let me go," she said, "I will get ready in a minute."

He released his hold on her, reluctant to let go of the warmth her body provided. It must have been too long since he has been with a woman for him to react this way.

She scurried away, but not before stepping on his left foot and any, sympathy he felt for forcing her disappeared.

Her proclamation of five minutes went on to twenty minute. Understandable in her current condition, which was why Kuon had previously suggested she should just let him help her change. He was a gifted with a murderous look, per the norm.

They left the building in silence.

"Where are we going?" She asked as he went to open the car door for her.

He paused, halfway. "I told you, wherever you want."

Kyouko looked down, gaze contemplative. "The park," she said, with a nod.

"The park? Again?" Kuon raised an eyebrow.

She made a motion to cross her hand, before remembering her useless one. She settled for tilting her chin upward. "Well, it's the closest thing we have got to nature in Tokyo."

Kuon held the door wide open for her. "The park, then."

Nature, of course. That's how they met.

"Remember the first time we came here?" Kuon asked, his eyes flickering between their joined hands and her face. He's slipped his hand in her without much thought(because he wanted to, damnit!) , swallowing a smile when she didn't pull away. "You hated me then."

They were walking through the narrow road in the park, watching passerby jogging by, and occasional laughter of children drifting from the other side.

Kyouko took deep breaths, trying to soak in the atmosphere in her system. She was enjoying their leisurely stroll, he could tell.

She looked at him from the corner of her eyes. "I didn't hate you. You just weren't my favourite person in the world."

This time, he couldn't quite help the smirk that find its way up his lips. For all the teasing and pseudo hostile atmosphere between them, they had settled into this calm friendship. Taking care of Kyouko while she could barely brush teeth on her own, had established a trust on her part, and he'd most probably started depending on her from the moment Kokoro called her Mama.

"And now?" He asked, eyes glinting.

"You are a good Dad to Kokoro," she assured him, smiling.

"That's not what I meant," he replied, dragging her to a nearby bench. "What are your feelings about me personally?"

Kyouko furrowed her brows, resting her back on the bench. She retracted her hand from his, rubbing her neck.

"Well, I like you," he offered, curious how she would react. She would probably take it in a platonic way.

"Oh!" Kyouko said, raising her head. "I like you too."

Figures. Completely Platonic.

The conversation went on to other things, ranging from Kokoro's school to Maria's new choice of cosplay, ultimately with them sitting in silence, enjoying watching the children play.

"I hated children."

Kuon turned his head to face her.

"Is that so?" He asked, voice neutral.

The air had grown heavy between them. He had this feeling. Kyouko planned on sharing something important to her, something close to her heart.

"I hated children. No, that's a wrong way to put it," She kept her eyes firmly on the view in front of her. A little boy patting the head of a little girl who fell. " I liked them enough, but the thought of having one of my own scared me to death. You know this, my mother left me with the Fuwa's when I was hardly Kokoro's age. It's not like in the short time she was with me," a wry smiled found its way up her face, "She was a great example of maternal love anyway. As for the Fuwa's- They were great. They were kind, they were lovely but I wasn't their daughter. I was the person they raised to be their son's wife, but never as their daughter."

She paused. Her mouth set in a grim line, Kyouko looked at Kuon for the first time since she started talking. "For the longest time, up until Sho and I broke off, I convinced myself I wasn't going to have children. But...Sho's family, I knew they wanted a heir. The Fuwa's are a traditional, respectable family in Kyoto but having a son who ran off to the music industry didn't help. They needed someone to inherit the Ryokan. I think they had a lot of hope from me in that regard, that one they I will give them a son." Her voice was gentler than the sound of the river.

Kuon placed his hand on top of hers, and to his surprise, found her clutching at his in return. This tale was more emotionally taxing than she was allowing herself to show.

"Anyway, days after my engagement with Sho, I went to a doctor. I was having problem with my periods. The doctor told me to take some tests and when the report came out, she declared I have PCOS. She also said I could have a hard time getting pregnant with a complication like this. Probably," she emphasised, taking a deep breath. Kyouko wouldn't look at him, and Kuon knew if he so much as made a noise, the spell would break. She was trusting him with something he didn't know he wanted. "I was relieved, I think? I don't know. I told Sho what doctor said after some time and he said, it was just fine. Except, one morning when I wake up-few days after that- reporters were banging down my door, and suddenly I got a call from Sho's mother. The engagement was off. "I checked out the news, and apparently, not only I was infertile," she laughed mirthlessly, "I was a money whore too."

The Kyouko who changed, the Kyouko who had a coldness about her that deterred him from figuring out she's Kyouko-chan the first time they met came back. He had a feeling if he didn't do something, his Kyouko-chan would be lost again.

Drawing slow patterns with his thumb on hand, he used his other hand to pull her closer, her face buried in his chest. It did the trick. He couldn't see her face, but he could feel the small drops of water dropping on shirt.

"At first, I didn't really understand anything," she continued, once her sobs subsided. She wasn't ready to race her face yet. "I remember panicking and calling Sho over and over again. He wouldn't return my calls. Finally, his manager called back, and apologised and told me Sho wanted nothing to do with me. For days, I kept on wondering what I did wrong. How it even went to the media? Finally, I texted Sho, a quick one. 'Did you do it?'"

Kyouko lifted her face, putting some distance between them. A tired smile on her face. "I think you already know the answer."

"Why would Sho do something like that? Both of you were engaged for God's sake." He couldn't help the frustration creeping onto his voice. Sho Fuwa was a real piece of trash.

"He didn't want to marry me. Our relationship, it was just something Sho's and parents and I forced on him. I was the fool who designated him the role of my fairy prince without his consent. At that time, I didn't really get it though. Her eyes held regret. "Anyway, once the initial confusion lessened, I became really angry. Enough to swore revenge on him. I even thought about joining the Show Biz as a means to achieve it." Kyouko chuckled. She had regained control of herself.

"But by then, along with revenge, something else had slowly crept up on my mind. I saw the Taisho and Ookami san and they were always so sad. And then, I thought about myself. The me who hated children. The me who was terrified of children. Suddenly I was scared at the thought I will never have children of my own. Without fully becoming aware of it, at that point, I had already assumed I would be having children and then all of a sudden, that dream was taken away. If Sho wouldn't marry me, who would? If I never get married, how will I have a child? Somewhere along the lines, my feelings had already changed." Her eyes found its way back to the empty playground. "For me, who had lost everything, a child felt like my true shot at actually loving someone and being loved in return."

Kuon didn't know what to say. There were so many things he wanted to. I'm sorry. You are incredible. If only, I hadn't left. If only I had left a way for you to contact me.

Kyouko seemed to understand. "Thank you for listening," she said quietly.

She wiped a stray tear from her cheeks. "Look at you, always listening to me whine, Corn."