Chapter Seventy One

I smile as he kisses me and wrap my arms around him hoping to lengthen these joyous moments.

One of the best things about being his wife is when he kisses me.

He pulls back and I just have a hundred different adjectives for how he looks: gorgeous, adorable, sexy. I love him. I love him. I can't keep myself from loving him. What's best about our relationship is that I really get reciprocated what I give. Kuon is always trying to make me feel like a princess. I just hope that Kotonami didn't do permanent damage to how he feels and that he still trusts me and will share with me the bad feelings as well as the good.

When he sits back down I reach for him and he immediately takes hold of my hand. I smile. My Corn. I'm so unbelievably happy that we are here together and I know he won't finish half of this drink or this cake but the idea of sharing it together makes me happy and he indulges my happiness.

I take a nervous breath in and focus on him. "Kuon," I tell him gently and he turns to me and nods quietly. "Can I ask you something?"

"You know you can ask me anything," he says and I see the concern in his eyes. I know that there's at least some small part of him that's blaming himself, most likely the absurd belief that he embarrassed me by having a seizure, a medical condition he can't help or change.

"Why do you want for me to be friends with her?" I ask him and he blinks at me confused before looking down and sighing. "I mean. You do know that I would never want to be friends with anyone who talks to you that way, who treats you that way. I don't think it's right for anyone to treat you in that manner."

"You shouldn't base your friendships on me," he tells me and I squeeze his hand. What is he talking about? No, he can't control my friendships but then he never has, the only person he's been uncomfortable with is Sho—Fuwa and he had very good reason to be seeing as he attempted to murder Kuon.

"How can I not take into account the feelings of my best friend?" I ask him.

"So, she's sti-" he begins and I look at him firmly but kindly. I bring his hand up to my lips and rub the back of it with my other hand.

"You are my best friend," I assure him. I know that when we started dating, Kotonami and he were often competitive but when I moved to the United States, I found that he was best for me. Meeting Kuon Hizuri is the best thing that ever happened to me. "I don't care about her. I care about you. What happened today…I'm sorry that you were put into that position. No one should ever talk to you in that manner."

"It'll happen," he shrugs in a defeated manner before sighing, "I know how much she used to mean to you. I don't want to be the reason why you don't have strong female friendships. I can only do so much as a man, you might need to -"

"A man?" I cough and he looks at me awkwardly, "How about my husband? The love of my life? The man that I wake up every day feeling extremely fortunate to be with? The father to our two girls? I love our time together. I'm not going to sacrifice that or put you in an unwanted position. Besides, I have other friends and when we move here, I'm sure that I'll make more friends."

"I mean, it'd be strange for you to say that a dress looks better on me," Kuon jokes and I shake my head. That doesn't matter. Unlike when I was with Shotaro and he would ask me whether I wanted things, Kuon will go in and buy whatever I like and sometimes I have to stop him because I don't like it that much.

"Yes, that would be strange but I can still admire suits, ties, shirts," I tell him and he bows his head and smiles.

"Can you promise me that you'll tell me if that ever stops being the case?" he asks and I nod. I lean forward and kiss him and he looks up at me, I gaze into those amazing emerald eyes.

"I will," I tell him. I don't think I'll ever tell him that. He's my best friend. No one can even meet his level. I am so grateful that I am lucky enough to be his wife and there is nothing I would trade that privilege for. I just want for him to be happy. I want to do whatever I can to help him stay happy.

KuKyKuKy

Kotonami is standing behind me with her hand on the back of my neck and I try to turn to look at her but my neck feels stiff and if I move it more, I'm scared that I'm going to break it. I open my mouth but it feels wooden, I can't move it like I usually do. It feels a little like a nutcrackers and my body, as I move forward, it feels like I'm not in control of my own body.

I see Kuon there approaching me and he looks at me concerned, "Are you okay, princess?" he asks and I try to smile and reach out for him but instead I feel my eyebrows slip down in an angry expression and instead of reaching out for him, I slap him.

"Leave me alone!" I say without meaning to. I'm not in control of my own words. "You abused me. You need to leave."

"I'm sorry," Kuon says as he rubs his cheek where I just hit him. I would never hit him like that…well unless I had to bring him back to reality but then it wouldn't be like that. "I didn't mean to abuse you, I'm so sorry that you feel that way."

"You should be in prison," I tell him as my leg moves on its own and I kick him. "I hate you! You monster! You've ruined my life."

I see his pain as he hears that and then I hear a siren behind him and two officers run in to grab him. They push his head down and although everything in me is wanting to protect him, he is held down and they start to put handcuffs on him.

I laugh as he stares at me confused and they put him in a straight jacket. "You deserve hell." I tell him and see him get dragged away. I am unable to stop it. As he leaves my sight, I feel myself get tossed down and I can't move. I feel like I'm a wooden puppet and as I look at my hand I realize that's exactly what I am. I can't move. I only exist when being controlled by others. The only person I would trust to take care of me in this manner has been pulled away from me and I don't know if he's ever going to come back.

KyKuKyKu

"Kuon!" I hear and blink my eyes sleepily before sitting up immediately. It's the middle of the night. What happened? She's panting and covered in sweat and I reach for her.

"Hey, it's okay," I whisper as she grabs to me and I bring her into a loving embrace. She turns to my chest and starts sobbing and I push my fingers through her hair lovingly. I realize that my pajama shirt is unbuttoned and she's crying onto my bare chest. No. That doesn't matter. Something is upsetting her and whether it's a dream or not, I'm not going to be able to calm myself until she's happy again.

"Kuon," she whispers and I kiss the top of her head a few times. I rub her back hoping that it helps. "I'm sorry."

"Why are you sorry?" I ask her. I let her cry as much as she needs to. I hope that I can help her at least with some of it. Most likely it was a bad dream but I'm not sure what she's dreamt about. I do empathize with her, my nightmares keep me awake as well. "What are you sorry about?"

"I hurt you," she says before I wrap my arms around her lovingly. "I didn't mean what I said. I love you. I'm sorry," she tells me and I try to calm her again. I push her hair back and kiss her forehead.

"Kyoko Hizuri," I tell her gently, "You haven't done anything that you need to apologize for and you definitely don't need to apologize to me. Did you want to get up and we can get some tea or something and you can tell me everything?" I ask and she shakes her head. I hope that she's not saying that because she's worried about me. Sometimes I wish she was more selfish and less accommodating but that's not really how she was brought up.

"No…" she says slowly, "I'll go back to sleep. Let's go back to sleep," she sobs and I tuck some of her hair behind her ear.

"Is that really what you want?" I ask her and as she nods, I move us so that we are back into the bed. She curls in towards me and presses her head into my chest again. She shivers and I hold her close with one arm, the other rubbing her back a little in case it helps. "I promise I'll hold you until you wake up," I tell her and she sobs again.

"Thank you, Corn," she tells me.

"Of course," I reply. If holding her whilst she sleeps is going to be enough to chase the bad dreams away then of course I'll do it without hesitation. I hate seeing her in pain. Even seeing her panic over a nightmare makes me feel a share of her pain and her fear. I'll stay awake until after she's gone back to sleep. I just want to protect her and make her happy.

KyKuKyKu

I look down at my arms and see that they are still wood, strings are attached to every part of my body and I see ball joints instead of normal arms and legs. I feel sick. I feel someone move me and I'm scared that it's her. I'm terrified that I'm still her puppet and am doing whatever she needs to do. I feel something soft under my arm. Where did she put me.

I hear a pained voice from a direction I can't look in and start to feel something being rubbed into me. Wood oil. It smells nice and it feels even better, some kind of massage? Wait, she's taking care of me? "I'm sorry," I hear HIS voice and he crouches down in front of me. He looks so tired and his eyes are red and puffy as if he's been crying. "I don't know how to break the curse."

He reaches for my hand, his touch is gentle and I look down to see that he's actually wearing a thin glove. In his hand is something that looks like premium wood oil. He still looks at me with such love. I take a look at my hand and realize that it's just a circle, I don't even have fingers. He still holds it in his. "I'm going to do everything I can to try to change you back. I love you," he tells me before applying more of the oil. He picks up my ball hand and kisses it very lightly. "I still love you."

He moves behind me and gently pushes my hair back before combing it delicately. It feels nice. He's taking care of me – a wooden puppet – the best way he knows how.

I force my mouth to open, "Kuon" I say in a very wooden manner. It hurts. Speaking on my own really hurts. He rushes forward and looks at me, very gently touching the side of my face. I see his pain and despair and concern but also the depth of his love for me. I try to move towards him but my entire body collapses out of the position he's sat me in.

I see his eyes widen in horror and he catches me gently. I flop against him but he holds me protectively. He stands slowly, his fingers making sure that none of my strings became tangled and he very gently moves me back to the soft chair he had me on. "I've got you," he tells me before positioning me in a comfortable position. He treats each and every piece so delicately, placing a kiss on each part he moves.

He sits back and places a hand on my cheek. "I've got you," he promises me. Somehow I feel myself getting smaller so that I'm the same size as a ventriloquist puppet and see the terror and fear in his eyes but after I stop shrinking, I feel him very gently pick me up as if I'm a small child. He sits me in his arm and lets my head rest against his shoulder. As he sits down, he moves me so I'm in his lap and he can wrap his arms around me protectively.

"I've got you."

End of Chapter Seventy One

Thank you for reading, reviews are appreciated

Thank you to the reviewers of Chapter Seventy

Author Notes:

Ogata will be in the next chapter

I really hate dolls. Like I have automatonophobia which means I'm kind of scared of the uncanny valley. I hate human type dolls, androids, robots. Somehow I'm fine with Barbies but American Girls creep me out. I just thought that Kyoko felt Kanae wanted to control her and then I wanted to show Kyoko's view on the way Kanae treats her versus the way Kuon would treat her. One of my most irrational fears is being turned into a doll.