Chapter 18: Tackling the Problem

After three days, Kaito seemed both better and worse to the Kuroba couple. His eyes had dark bags under them that progressively got worse as the nights passed, as if he wasn't sleeping, despite being in his room for hours the first day and all night long each night.

And he was acting... Oddly, to say the least. Eccentric and quirky, perhaps, in a somewhat unsettling way.

He moved about the house strangely, as if he was avoiding something and knew exactly what it was he was doing. He watched TV, relaxing well enough and seeming happy, but changing the channels in funny ways, never clicking through them as he used to in order to see what was on, now always going straight to a certain channel at a certain hour of the day, or else putting in a movie instead, carefully avoiding some of the movies and not others.

More often times than not he would leave the house altogether, opting instead to go out into the back yard and see the doves in their coop. Toichi and Chikage highly encouraged this more promising and healthy behavior, often going with him and sitting with him for hours in the large coop, talking to the doves and each other and petting the fluffy creatures. Kaito seemed to love them more than ever, though why, none of them were sure.

When he went to the bathroom or to take a bath, he bothered to go through his parent's room and use their master bathroom, disregarding his own bath in the hallway just across from his room.

He moved strangely as well, they noticed, particularly while he was in his room. He would avert his eyes, look around in strange ways, tense up, force himself to appear relaxed, and then tense again, sometimes closing his eyes, even if it meant running into things.

He'd also thrown the comforter off his bed, along with his stuffed animals. He now slept on a mostly empty bed with only his dark blue sheet. He'd taken the pillow-case off his pillow as well and thrown it to the floor by the foot of his bed with his comforter and stuffed animals. Each night he slept with the sheet pulled up over his head, and when his parents would ask if he wanted to sleep with them, he always hesitated before refusing, insisting that he was fine, and wishing them a good night.

After three days of this, Chikage and Toichi didn't know if they should be more worried or relieved. Their son was finding some form of peace in his life, and at least he was going through a mostly average daily routine. Once his injuries healed more thoroughly they would begin taking him for walks outside and about the neighborhood. It was lucky for them that, since they had enough money and Toichi made a living off his magic shows, they were able to give Kaito most of their undivided attention, and they'd never enrolled him in school. They'd both agreed that they'd wait until Kaito was at least six or seven before enrolling him in school, so for now, he was homeschooled and there were no teachers or school staff they needed to explain his absence to.

Still, the odd quirks he'd developed worried them. They didn't let it show, especially not to Kaito, but they were concerned. They wanted him to be comfortable in his home, not carefully moving about as if avoiding some hidden monster which lurked in the corner of every room...

It was the fourth night when they finally understood what was causing their son's strange behavior, and what had triggered the occasional sudden bouts of crying they'd witnessed from him over the past few days.

Chikage made Sashimi for dinner that night.

The particular style of Sashimi that Chikage made for Kaito was one of his favorite meals: She would decorate the bite-sized bits of fish and rice to look like little fish characters themselves; usually they resembled Koi. It was cute, fun, creative, and an altogether good meal...

Or at least it used to be.

When Kaito saw the Sashimi carefully decorated and made by his mother for him being set in front of him on the table, he instantly felt guilty and wanted to cry. He lowered his head and fussed at his bottom lip, trying to hold back the terror that gripped at his heart and tears that pricked his eyes. His mother had gone through the trouble of making him one of his used-to-be favorite meals, had put time and effort into it...

So why didn't he want it?!

Kaito felt guilty, like a horrible son, for not wanting to eat the meal his mother had prepared for him. He felt pathetic for being afraid of something as silly and ridiculous as fish. Most of all he was just plain confused: Why was he afraid?! Why couldn't he just push these irrational fears out of his mind?! He didn't understand, and couldn't remember. There was something, itching at the back of his brain, a memory of some sort that he desperately wanted to grab hold of, as if remembering could help him get over this stupid terror. Simultaneously, he very much did not want to recall what had been so terrifying and painful that it could have such an effect on him. What if remembering made him worse...?

Kaito just didn't know what to do. He glanced up at the Sashimi, not noticing that by now his parents were both staring at him with wide eyes, cringing at the sight of it. He held back a sniffle, closing his eyes and wrapping one arm around his torso to comfort himself, the other reaching for the offered meal.

"Kaito?" His mother asked, and suddenly both she and his father were there, one on either side of him. He hadn't even noticed them stand...

"Please, Kaito, tell us what's wrong," his father demanded in a soothing but ever-so-slightly authoritative voice. Kaito pulled his hand back, away from the table, unable to force himself to touch, let alone eat the offending food.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, voice watery and trembling. Both arms were clutched tightly around his torso now, trying to hold in the shivers that racked his body as fear coursed through him. "I'm sorry."

"Hush, Kaito, baby," his mother whispered, pressing her lips to his hair. "Don't be sorry, Little Dove. Don't be sorry."

Toichi regarded his son with a thoughtful gaze. He looked to the table, watched his son again, and stood. He made his way to the living room, glancing about. Next, he went upstairs, stopping by the bathroom in the hall, Kaito's room, and the master bathroom. When he came back down to the kitchen, Chikage could see a look of understanding across his face. Whatever was going on, her husband thought he'd just figured it out.

Toichi came to his son's side and pulled him off his chair, embracing him for what seemed like the thousandth time in the last four days. Honestly, even if he'd hugged him a million times, the magician felt as if there was no number he could reach which would be one too many hugs for his poor child.

"Kaito," Toichi whispered softly and lovingly into his ear. Kaito melted at the sound, his shivers subsiding a bit, even if only for a moment. Toichi took a deep breath. "It's the fish, isn't it?"

Kaito tensed again and instantly, the trio knew that Toichi was right. It all made sense now: Why Kaito would disregard his fish-themed bathroom, the fish-printed comforter and pillowcase of his bed. Why he would throw all of his stuffed animals to the floor rather than trying to force himself to comb through and see which ones he still wanted. Why there were certain movies, channels, and articles of clothing he avoided.

Why he wouldn't, couldn't, eat the fish-shaped Sashimi Chikage had just prepared for dinner...

Kaito sobbed, feeling ashamed. "It's stupid!" Kaito suddenly exclaimed, trying to squirm out of his father's grasp, to run off and hide. Toichi held tighter. "It's stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid! I know! I know it is!" He wailed, hands going up to clutch tightly at his already greatly disheveled brown locks. "And I don't know WHY! I can't remember!" Toichi held him tighter. "I'm sorry."

"No," Toichi said suddenly, sternly. He pulled Kaito away from him a bit and placed a hand gently under the child's chin, making him look at him. "Listen to me Kaito. Listen well. It's okay. Everyone, without exception, is afraid of something. This fear of yours; it isn't stupid, and it's nothing you have to apologize for." If the proper thing to do was make Kaito face his fear and get over it, then Toichi didn't care. He didn't know what psychology textbooks would say about a four-year-old child facing a problem such as this one, didn't know if it was better to succumb to it or fight it... All he knew was that his boy had been through enough already, and he'd be damned if he chose to subject his little boy to terror and pain just to try and force him to confront his fear and get over it. Maybe someday Kaito would grow out of it, or they'd seek proper psychological assistance, when he was older and could handle it...

But that day was not today. Today, Toichi just wanted his boy to feel safe and alright again. He looked at Chikage and saw that she was thinking much the same thing he was. She stood and grabbed the dishes off the table, throwing the food in the trash. Next, she began to rifle through the kitchen cabinets, pulling any silverware, Tupperware, cups, bowls, and plates out that were fish-themed before tossing them, too, in the garbage. She made her way upstairs even as Kaito watched after her with wide eyes.

"Kaito, look at me," Toichi instructed softly. Kaito did as he was told and turned, peering up into his father's soft blue eyes. "Everyone is afraid of something. It's okay to be afraid. Sometimes, it's okay to let it show, too, around the people that you trust." Toichi touched their foreheads against each other, peering into his son's glistening indigo eyes. "Your mother and I love you. You don't have to hide anything from us. Not ever."

Kaito's lips formed a thin line and he nodded, closing his eyes and leaning into his father, nuzzling his face into the crook of the man's neck. His tears soon dried and his sobs subsided as he inhaled his father's comforting scent, the scent of sweet-smelling smoke and pine needles. He fell asleep, exhausted from the mental strain and his lack of sleep over the past few nights.

Toichi carried him upstairs and laid him to rest in the master bedroom before going to help his wife, leaving the child sleeping soundly for the first time in days.

A/N: I went to a Japanese grocery store the day this chapter was published with a little friend of mine. She wanted Japanese ice cream and went to the freezer that held it. She ended up deciding to get a bright pink popsicle-looking cylinder that greatly resembled something you'd see in a pastry shop; hot pink and with a white swirl in the middle, looking all innocent... She took a little bite and left the piece to melt in her mouth, and I took a bite and instantly began to chew, as are our ways. She took a little nibble, I took a chunk (because I was planning to suck on it while I drove her home)... I swear, it's the second worst thing I've ever tasted in my life. I spit it out SO FAST, it probably broke the sound barrier. She was like "um, it's not bad, so what are you doing?" And then her piece melted enough for her to taste it and suddenly she was gagging (which I managed to NOT do, thank you very much).

What could this POSSIBLY have to do with this story, you may ask, besides the fact that it's something Japanese-related that happened to the author today? Turns out, she had NOT been paying NEARLY enough attention because that cute looking thing ended up being a FROZEN FISH CAKE. Made with FISH PASTE. It tasted like licking a slimy fish, I swear, it was groooossss... I've never liked the taste of fish, but damn that was nasty, at least to my distinctly Western tastes and when considering the fact that I had been expecting a sweet and maybe slightly abnormal-tasting popsicle, not... THAT... Plus I think, maybe, you're supposed to cook it... Or at least let it thaw... Not eat it like a popsicle like an idiot American... I took Japanese for several years, afterwards I was able to read the label and tell what it was, but my little friend has only taken Japanese for six months or so and only registered "looks like a popsicle, is bright pink, and is next to what is obviously a carton of ice cream". I wouldn't have stuck that thing in my mouth without reading if she hadn't of handed it to me and I hadn't been distracted with preparations for driving. =.=;

Anyway, just felt like sharing that with you guys. Consider it a mini bonus story, I guess? Not that anyone really cares what I get up to in a day...

As usual, reviews are appreciated~! Only two little chapters left to go! ;)