10Kuon's eyes widened as he looked out to the street where his friend was, his friend, one of the few people who gave a damn about him. Rick knew his secret and was one of only two people who hadn't been scared off by it but considered it pretty cool. It was Rick who was hurting now.
As Kuon heard the sound of a car, he looked from side to side. He could save Rick but there might not be a way without sacrificing himself. He took a steady breath in before pushing forwards, his wings ripped through his clothes and he managed to fly into the air, grabbing Rick as the car started to hit him. He hadn't been quick enough to offer no damage to his friend but they could live with this.
"Kuon," Rick said softly as he saw the fifteen-year-old's fear. "Thank you."
Kuon saw the car crash into the side of a building and noticed that people were just staring at him. Even though it was during the darkest time of the night, his wings were seen in the streetlight. He could hear his heart pounding in his chest and when he closed his eyes he could imagine the hooves covering his fingers and hands. His hooves always came out when he was most stressed.
Rick looked to Kuon as he saw the panic on the fairy's face as more people seemed to become alerted to him. Despite the pain in his back, Rick managed to get to his feet, supporting himself with one hand on the wall beside him and put his other hand on Kuon's shoulder. "It's okay. Look. It's cool, okay, it's going to be okay."
"You KNEW about this freak!?" Tina yelled and Kuon started to hyperventilate, "He's the reason for this. If it wasn't for -"
"Ignore her," Rick said as he tried to steady Kuon but as there were more voices heard, more questions or gasps or sounds of disgust. It was as if his entire world was disappearing and he could feel the hooves, the bird wings, he could see blurred colors and then he closed his eyes and dropped to the ground but as he fainted, the last thing that he saw were that as he stretched out his arms to catch himself, all he could see were hooves.
Chapter Three
Ren looked into the camera again, this time using his eyes to create the sense of power and a controlled domination over the lens. He closed his eyes before opening them, the intensity doubled. He looked to the former supermodel who was now a fashion photographer and winked before getting up. This was her shoot for her friend's line, he had to try to make a good impact on it. She hadn't been the one to offer him this job. He wouldn't have taken it had she been the one to offer it to him.
Finally the final few shots were taken and the photographer stood, she pushed her long blonde hair behind her and then shook her head, tossing her hair in the air In what anyone would call an irresistible manner. Well, Ren could resist it.
"Tsuruga! Good work! I want you to get into the shower so you're good for your next job!" she called and then looked to one of the other models, "Matsunaga, I need you to pose right here and this time, as much as I hate to tell you it, squeeze your chest and push it forwards."
Ren looked at the woman doing thing before heading in the direction of the shower. As he entered the hallway to where he could be alone, he felt someone push past him and felt an agonizing pain in his back. He closed his eyes and put two fingers to the back of his shirt only for them to appear with gold 'blood' on them. He cringed. One of the many things which he had learned in his twenty years of life was how to detract his wings into his back. The only problem was that he could only do It safely for a limited period of time. That period of time seemed like it was up and he would have to use his stones to recharge his magic which meant he had to get back to recharge his stones.
Fairy magic was connected to the magic that was found within the stones, not only were there elemental stones but stones that held powers connected to healing and decreasing fatigue and providing good sleep. It seemed that just like a couple of mermaids he knew, fairies used these stones to help them with their own magical abilities. He had just been too stupid to charge them.
"Here," he heard the man say from behind him and turned around just in time to see a black velvet pouch get tossed to him. He blinked and saw his father standing there with sunglasses on, his dyed blond hair a fashionable mess, and two coffee cups in his hand. They had decided a long time ago that Ren was not Kuu's child but fortunately, the chain around Ren's neck created a haze for any outsider debating their connection.
"Thanks," Ren nodded still feeling guilty that he had been the cause of their relocation when his true self had been discovered when he was fifteen. He took another look at his father and then turned his head, pretending that they were strangers.
Kuu sighed as he walked away to where Julie was, he watched as she photographed the models before her. He didn't blame Kuon for the detour in his life and he understood why their relationship had to be kept confidential but it was rather sad that Kuon wasn't surrounding himself with people who loved him. Seeing that gold liquid on his fingers gave Kuu the same anxiety as if he had seen blood on Kuon's hands. His son wasn't the one with the problem, these people who had said that they wanted to analyze him were, the people who had made it so they had to leave their home under Lory Takarada's protection were.
KHKHKH
Kuu had seen the reports which had shown pictures of a blurred face but a fantastical pair of golden fairy wings with emerald swirls which turned a burnt sienna in the morning light. Only one person that Kuu knew had wings like that. It had panicked him. He had been coming out of the shower after a long day of work and had heard the radio broadcast which had caused him to turn on the TV and see the images. They weren't showing his face so maybe things weren't as bad as they could be.
It was when the images had turned into the picture of the Pegasus that Kuu had known that Kuon's identity was completely revealed. He had actually – with Kuon's consent – been featured in a show about rare and exotic pets and he thought that this might be a way of protecting his son. He hadn't thought what might happen if his transformation was caught on film, he should have been watching that.
Kuu had almost bolted out the house with no clothes or shoes on but Julie had insisted he at least go out with something on and so he had a sweater, t-shirt, jacket, jeans, and sneakers. He had even forgotten to put socks on he was so frantic. He saw an owl swoop overhead in the direction of a nearby park that had a lot of trees. Birds and horses alike had appeared to treat Kuon as one of their own.
As he parked the car, Kuu got out and followed the sounds of the tweeting and cooing. He saw the large wings and then pushed forwards past the trees and he could see Kuon with his head flat against the ground, his wings were pressed against the ground too and Kuu hadn't seen his son in this much pain for a while, he was so good at hiding it.
Kuu was about to place a hand on the top of Kuon's head when a bird swooped at him. Kuon instantly defended his father and the bird stopped short upon seeing one they respected defend this human. Kuu took a short breath in before letting it out. "Hey," he said as he placed a soothing hand on the side of the horse-face. "Are you okay?"
"You found me," Kuon said before closing his eyes. "They're coming for me now, I screwed everything up. They can take me. It's my fault. You and Mom are innocent, you didn't ask for any of this. I should have been born as a normal baby, that's what you've always wanted." Kuu saw tears slide down Kuon's face.
Kuu lifted Kuon's head with his hands again and waited for his son to open his eyes. "You are so wrong," he told him and Kuon looked steadily into the other man's eyes. "You being a fairy was something that we never thought could happen, we didn't think fairies were real and we never thought that you would turn into a Pegasus when you were terrified. You're right, we weren't prepared for that. However, if you think that we don't want you then we've failed as parents. We don't see you as wrong or not normal, we love you unconditionally. You are our son. You have a different physiology than us. You have unique powers, gifts, which we don't have but if you have ever thought that we don't love you as exactly who you are, our son, then we have failed you because we truly love you."
Kuon shivered and Kuu maneuvered himself so that he could rest Kuon's head on his shoulder. "I'm screwed," the fifteen-year-old said and Kuu shook his head.
"Boss made a plan for us years ago in case this happened. You'll have to do all you can to be calm but there's somewhere we can go, you just have to be human to get there. We'll help you. We'll all follow Boss's plan."
"You and Mom?" Kuon asked and Kuu nodded. "I can't ruin your life again."
"You have never and will never ruin our lives," Kuu attempted to stress, "We're a family." He felt Kuon's body shrink in his arms until he was holding the traumatized fifteen-year-old teenager. He very gently let his fingers glide over Kuon's wings in a way he had learned provided comfort to the fairy.
KHKHKH
Ren always tried to keep to himself. Yes, he had charisma and he knew how to interact with people but he preferred to keep quiet. If he stayed silent and still people wouldn't notice when he had to bind his wings instead of pull them into his body hurting himself considerably. If he stayed quiet and reserved, then people wouldn't know how he was masking his true identity with the use of a chain around his neck, they wouldn't know that he just had to sweep his hand through his hair and mutter an enchantment that would make his hair blond, his eyes emerald, and his parents refer to him as Kuon.
With this chain, he could use his own magic to hide in plain sight and that made both of his parents happy. He could live a semi-normal life. Ren knew that when he returned to the restaurant that night for one of their three-times-a-week family meals, his father would insist for him to go upstairs, lay down on the massage table, and let him treat his wings with the powder and ointment ideal for mythical creatures and which his father had bought the entire supply of and all future produced supplies. He shared some of it with the human who had turned into a Griffin when he had turned thirty and now lived as an outsider in the Rocky Mountains.
One thing that both his mother and father had done for him since he was a child was take care of him. His father would be worried about him and he'd have to release his wings in their presence. The only other person who knew was the president.
Ren was walking down the hallway of LME, trying to keep his distance as usual when his eyes widened. He looked up to see Sawara-san, the head of the talent division seeming to wrestle with a young girl. It was a pretty odd scene to run across.
"You just want to get close to Ren, too" Sawara-san said and Ren tilted his head having heard that. Why was his name getting mentioned?
"Ren…you mean Ren Tsuruga? He's part of this agency!?" the girl yelled and Ren grew even more interested, he was always being introduced as being a star actor, the top actor, of LME. Didn't people know that about him?
"Don't pretend as if you don't know! What do you think "show" and "business" mean?! It's for those who have the talent to perform and make money!" Sawara-san scolded the girl and Ren walked forwards. He wanted to make sense of what he had just walked in on.
"What's happening, Sawara-san?" Ren asked as he tried to analyze the situation. Apparently fairies were quicker learners than pure humans and very intelligent. He could achieve a lot without trying very hard. It meant that he would often try to find new challenges for himself and that he had actually graduated high school whilst being homeschooled when he was sixteen and that was a Japanese high school exam.
"Aah!" the girl screamed and Ren stared at her. Did he know her? She felt incredibly familiar to him. "Ren Tsuruga! He's really here!"
Ren stopped and blinked as he studied her. He saw the girl fall down as if she had received tragic news. Was she one of the people who sensed something off about him, he had met with them before but only two had ever guessed that he wasn't human – well fully human, he had learned early on about the positive paternity and maternity tests his parents had taken (although they hated the idea that he wasn't biologically connected to them which had turned out to be untrue.) Still for a response like this. What had this girl already discovered about his unique situation?
End of Chapter Three
Thank you for reading, reviews are appreciated
Thank you to the reviewers of Chapter Two
Kaname671
Also thank you to LilRed1221 for reviewing chapter one, in response. Kuon turns into a Pegasus when he's frightened. Both of his parents love him and accept him unconditionally for who he is so home was a safe place where he rarely was forced to transform so no horse teeth breast suckling fortunately.
