Title: The Nail That Sticks Up…

Author: Digimon Empress Yaten (de yaten)

Notes: A super drabble (too long to be a drabble, too short for a story) about Kiyoshi's experiences in school, and the incident that led to the first time he hurt himself. It leads up to Everything But the Bathroom Sink, sort of – I wrote that one before this one and it happened to go in that direction.

Disclaimer: Don't own Yu Yu Hakusho or its characters.

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If Kiyoshi Mitarai had it his way, he would've been born a stereotypical brown-eyed, black-haired Japanese boy. But as it was, he had blonde hair and blue eyes –a literal nail that stuck up from the time he was born. The doctors, the neighbors, and of course – his classmates – had never failed to hammer him down.

Little Kiyoshi had begun his first day of school with a beaming smile and brand new Official Blue Action Man sneakers. When his mother picked him up at the end of the day, his sneakers were missing (he misplaced them, he told her) and two of his teeth had been knocked out (in a gym accident, according to the official office records).

When the teacher decided to hold an election for the class manager, Kiyoshi raised his hand to sign up. His mother told him that maybe if he ran for class manager, then the other kids would respect him. The ensuing jeers following his upright hand caused him to quit the race before it had even begun.

Nothing changed as he grew up. When he should've been awkwardly staring at girls across the room at this first Junior High party, he was in his room, pretending there was a homework assignment that – no, really mom – couldn't wait until tomorrow. On the day of his first Junior High class trip, he mysteriously came down with severe headaches that no amount of aspirin could cure. The next day, he responded to his classmates' taunts about his absence by protesting that his mother didn't let him go. ("It was a Western holiday or something, I swear!")

Junior High was the bane of Kiyoshi's existence. Sometimes he wished that he had been a delinquent so he could get kicked out of school. Or a genius, and been accepted into an exclusive prep school that might accept him for who he was. Then again, wouldn't his looks stick out at any school in Japan?

At least a prep school would be full of nerds who couldn't hold him down and beat him. Or, as he liked to call it - Things Got Really Out of Hand In Dodgeball Today, Mom.

Once, and only once, Kiyoshi had told his mother the truth about what had happened at school. Nobu Wakamara, the class manager, cornered Kiyoshi on the school rooftop during the lunch break. After luring Kiyoshi out with his school bag– "Please! My homework is in there!" – he kicked the blonde boy's legs out from under him, and in one sweep, lifted Kiyoshi onto the unprotected ledge of the roof.

Kiyoshi screamed, unfortunately for him, as several school officials stepped out of the front doors below. Their panicked pleas for him to reconsider suicide drew a large crowd to the front lawn, much to the delight of Nobu, who was watching from a safe distance. Although he managed to jump back onto the safety of the rooftop, he couldn't convince the school that he hadn't been trying to kill himself. Nobu, of course, kindly offered himself as a witness – "Poor Mitarai, I went up there to talk to him about his isolation from the rest of the class, and he threw down his bag and jumped up! Thankfully I was there to calm him down…"

When the school had him call home to inform his mother of the incident, he practically heard the screaming that was waiting for him under her calm, motherly words. The phrase, "See you at home, honey," had never sounded foreboding to Kiyoshi before.

And, of course, his mother refused to listen to him when he told her that Nobu lifted him onto the ledge and lied to the teachers. He really wasn't suicidal, mom, and he'd never do anything to hurt himself or his family.

"Unlike you!"

He hadn't meant to say it. It was barely a thought in his head before he blurted it out, pointing an accusing finger towards his mother.

A hard slap to the face was his answer.

"Slit your wrists for all I care!"

His mother left the house, unaware that Kiyoshi would take her up on the offer an hour later.