Whole

Chapter 23

Three months later

Katsuko's POV

"Woah, this was your house?" Masato stared at the large, white house that stood tall before us in awe.

"Yeah, this was my childhood home; dad makes a pretty penny." I chuckled, opening the white wooden gate. It was a typical home for the area, large, white picket fences in a suburban area, with a garage and neat front yard.

"No, shit."

"Come on, I think dad will still be at work, but mom and Lucas should be home."

It had finally come to the end of a long, three months with Masato and the band being on tour. It was the final week in America, and the next three days, I was getting to be home to visit the family I missed deeply.

It hadn't been easy. There were times I found myself wondering if Masato and I could survive a life like this. It was hard on both of us, and although he never really told me, I knew he hurt as much as I did being apart. It was the realization that this was only the start that made it worse.

Their manager had announced their plans for after new years, more touring, more video shoots, and they wanted another album for next years too. Except, this one was to be recorded in LA. It would also be the band's first worldwide release, that came with tour dates spanning six months solid, rarely home for more than a week every so often. I felt as if I'd barely survived these three months without breaking.

I was beyond proud of Ryo, Masato, and the other three, however, it was rough. There were times even those phone calls proved hard to make; they didn't take the pain away and sometimes made the pain worse. There were times we'd sit on the phone in almost silence, barely saying a word. And then there were times we ended up arguing, all the emotions and pain exploding into a fight we couldn't even make sense of.

"Mom? Lucas?" I called as I turned my key and pushed the large black door open carefully.

"Kat!" My brother called, hurling himself full speed down the stairs before leaping at me, almost knocking me to the floor.

"Hey, Lucas." I chuckled, wrapping my arms around him and nuzzling my face on his shoulder. Despite being two years younger, he was a little taller than I was.

"I missed you."

"I missed you too, Lucas. How are you?" I smiled at him as I stepped back and reached my hand up to ruffle his honey-brown hair.

"Better now you're here, are you okay?"

"I am now." I grinned, "Lucas, this is Masato. Masato, this is my little brother, Lucas."

"Nice to meet you." Masato smiled curtly as he held his hand out to Lucas.

"And you, Kat, don't stop talking about you. I love the band too, never been much for the metal scene, but I can't deny a good band when I hear one." Lucas took his hand, giving him a firm handshake.

"Thank you, that means a lot."

"Oh, my baby girl!" My mother appeared; water brimming her eyes as she stepped out from the kitchen.

"Hey, Mama." I moved past Lucas and threw my arms around her as tears pooled in my eyes.

"Oh baby girl, it's so good to see you, you look so well, and beautiful." She held me tightly before stepping back, her hands on my shoulders as she smiled at me.

"You look good, too, Mama."

"All the better for finally seeing my sweet girl. We miss you so much."

"I miss you, as well. Mama, this is Masato. Masato, this is my mom, Kennedy."

"Oh my, he is handsome! It's lovely to meet you, please, come in. I've just made lunch if you're hungry. Didn't bring that silly nephew of ours with you?"

"No, Mama, he said he would come over later, they're setting up at the venue right now."

"Good, because I owe that boy a clip around the ear, now, let's go eat."

I beamed widely at my mother before I took Masato's hand and led him into the dining room.

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"And this was my high school, or as I like to put it, hell school. Believe it or not, in high school, I was that nerdy kid, wearing glasses, listening to metal, with high grades." I pointed to the vast building as Masato, and I walked along the streets of Baltimore hand in hand.

"You wore glasses?" He looked at me curiously, his eyebrow raised.

"Yeah, I had laser surgery done on them when I was twenty-two because they were getting pretty bad. Plus, come on, you've known me long enough, I misplace everything, and I kept losing the damn things."

Masato burst out laughing as his head bobbed, "You do have a habit of doing that, Koneko."

"I don't know how I do it. I put things down where I think they'll be safe and poof. They just disappear, I think it might be elves or evil faires."

"Oh, it's got to be the faires, there isn't a chance it could be the fact you have an awful short term memory." He teased as he looked at me with a tongue in teeth grin.

"I'm sorry, who are you again?" I mocked, screwing my lips into a pout. We both laughed for a while as we continued to walk down the street.

"Your family seems pretty amazing." Masato sighed once our laughter had calmed.

"Yeah, honestly, I've missed them more than I thought I had. I still don't regret moving to Nagoya, but yeah, I miss them a lot."

"Your dad is kind of terrifying, though. Every time I looked at him, he was looking at me with narrowed eyes as if he was calculating ways to kill me."

"Oh, I wouldn't worry about that. Dad is like that with everyone until he gets to know them, especially when it comes to Lucas and me. He likes you though, just after what happened before, and obviously, he knows you're in the band, always on tour and all. He doesn't want me to get hurt again."

"Yeah." Masato's body slumped as he sighed, "We do really need to talk, Kat. I mean, this was just three months, and we've argued so much this past month."

I stopped my feet, forcing him to stop too as my hand tugged at his arm, "Not right now, please, Masato. I'm here with my family, and I only have two full days with them. I haven't seen you in weeks, and it's your birthday in a few days. I want to enjoy the next few days. We can talk when we're back home."

I knew we needed to talk. I wasn't blind to the fact things had been trying and were only going to get harder. I knew we needed to lay out all our cards on the table, and talk about where our relationship stood and would stand with the busy schedule coming up. However, right now, I was happy, and I didn't want anything to ruin that.

"All right, baby, we'll talk once we get back, but we can't sweep it under the rug and pretend we've been happy with all of this." He stepped towards me and pulled me tight into his arms.

"I know, I promise, once we're home."

Masato released one arm from around me and brought his hand up to cup my cheek, "I love you, Kat, more than anything. I know it's not been easy, but I know that to be true now more than ever. Nothing is ever going to change the way I feel about you."

"I love you, too, Masato, more than anything." I reached my hand up and gently brushed the back of my fingers over his cheek before bringing him in for a kiss.

"I better get you back to your parents then head to the venue. Make sure you have a good couple of days with your parents, okay?"

"I will." I nodded, pressing my lips to his once more before we pulled away and headed back.