"So how did you find your first day?" asked Kiyoko, as he pulled out his outdoor shoes before replacing them with his indoor ones and shutting the locker door.
"It could've been worse," shrugged Mikayla, watching as Ichigo seemed to be glaring across at her from his locker.
"Hey, you never know, tomorrow could be more eventful," assured the male whilst tying the final knot in his shoes before standing straight and turning to face the orange haired male, "Ichigo, you coming?"
"Yeah, let's go,"
"See you tomorrow, Madarame!"
Turning around, the pair looked towards the female with Kiyoko happily waving goodbye to Mikayla as Ichigo seemed even more puzzled at her existence. Earlier that day a similar dynamic had been shown as Kiyoko seemed happy to provide a tour and explanation for every inch of the school (even the water fountain apparently) whereas Ichigo trailed behind the pair with Sado, grumbling complaints as he dragged his feet along the halls. If anything it was slightly amusing to witness however such amusement had to be kept hidden as the only thing more annoying than Ichigo's glares was Kiyoko's broad smile that seemed to light up his eyes like a puppy.
Shaking her head softly, the female continued to walk out the school grounds, her bag around her shoulder as her eyes analysed the landscape around her.
"Such an odd pair," muttered Mikayla as she began to walk in the opposite direction, her ears perking as she heard a sharp beeping sound from the phone inside her pocket.
Pulling it from her pocket, the female roughly flipped the phone open before sharply kissing her teeth in annoyance as she quickly moved across the street, just barely crossing the road in time as two cars sped past. Turning she ran down the heavily shadowed alleyway only to stop in her tracks, eyes wide in shock as two piercing black eyes stared down at her with hunger.
"Shit,"
…
"She doesn't even know how to use a juicebox," stated Ichigo, turning to glare down at his shorter friend as Kiyoko sheepishly smiled up at him, shrugging his shoulders lightly before turning to look ahead.
"So what? Maybe she's just used to normal juice," argued Kiyoko, his gaze turning upwards as they passed through a set of cherry blossom trees.
Suddenly, a sharp gust of wind bushed past the pair causing a flurry of cherry blossoms to fall through the air and into the messy hair of the two teenagers. Frustrated, the orange haired male quickly shook his head in a desperate attempt to remove the various splashes of pink that had found themselves tangled in the bright locks. Laughing softly, Kiyoko gently shook his head as is friend's antics only to quickly dodge a sharp hit to the back of the head as Ichigo cast him a playful glare,
"She said she lived in Tokyo, Kiko, not a bloody farm,"
"Some people don't like the synthetic flavours,"
From this point, the sixteen year old could clearly tell that there were no other arguments that he could offer that Kiyoko wouldn't try to defend or deflect in some manner. In the back of his mind Ichigo could already feel the beginnings of a headache as he imagined his friend gloating and talking about Mikayla endlessly. At that small image the orange haired male rolled his eyes before groaning loudly in annoyance and turning to look at the short blonde, "Are you going to continue talking about her like you've been dating for five years or are you going to tell me about this weird sound you keep on hearing."
Pouting softly, Kiyoko looked down as he softly kicked his feet up against the ground. Personally, he didn't feel that there was any problem with the way he was talking about Mikayla, if anything he was just defending her from his friend's prying gaze and rude remarks. She was new to the town, the least that they could do was be accommodating and understanding that she was just struggling with the change. So what if she couldn't open a juice box? When Keigo was seven he wet his pants because he didn't want to stop playing on the monkey bars but he didn't see anyone talking about that now.
However, onto the main matter at hand, every night or so Kiyoko had begun to hear noises coming from both outside and inside his room. The sounds themselves mainly sounded like soft tappings in the corners of the window or the darkest corners of the room but on the worst nights, the noises grew in strength and volume. Instead of soft tappings, sharp and harsh thumps rocked against the wooden floors causing the window to rattle and the desk to shake. On those nights, Kiyoko wasn't proud to admit but would say that he moved to sleep next to his younger brother (well the person he considered a younger brother), Jinta, on the floor as the sounds never seemed to leave his bedroom as though they were only there to torment him.
Around a month ago, after a succession of particularly bad nights which had caused Kiyoko to sleep next to his brother rather than on the floor due to the paralysing fear, the sixteen year old found himself at a standstill. The standstill being either he talked about these noises with somebody to try and work out their cause or he moved into Jinta's room (which more than likely would've ended in a black eye for one and a month long punishment for the other) so he moved to talk to Ichigo. Only this led to Ichigo's current belief; Kiyoko was sleep deprived and needed to stop watching American horror movies. A belief which had earned a sharp slap to the back of the head and a fifteen minute wrestling match that was only stopped by Jinta throwing Kiyoko's school bag at Ichigo's head.
"It's not a weird sound, Ichi, just this constant tapping on my window. Like that American movie that we watched," sighed Kiyoko, tone solemn as his mind moved to think about how in recent weeks the tapping had seemed to increase in measure.
"Okay, so this tapping, when does it happen the most?" asked Ichigo, rolling his eyes at the previous analogy as he thought of the poorly made horror.
"Most? Hell, I don't know, nights when I'm sad I guess? Well I say that but sometimes it happens on nights that I'm peaceful,"
"Like it's trying to bring you back to reality?"
"No, like it's trying to say something," said Kiyoko, his voice trailing off slightly as his mind went distant, thoughts slowly spiralling onto the way the tapping seemed to be happening for longer and harsher, almost like it was trying to share a message.
Glancing down sympathetically, the orange haired male watched as his friend slowly began to curl into himself as though he was seeking a form of protection. It was clear that the infrequent noises had become something too much for even Kiyoko to deal with and by the sounds of it this had been occurring for longer than whatever he was actually telling Ichigo. However, the physical and emotional effects were clear as he slowly found himself watching the once confident and loud male become more reserved and quiet as though he were considering his every move. At this point, all Ichigo wanted to see was some resemblance of the old Kiyoko, one that he could joke and mess around with without feeling like he was walking on eggshells so if what it took was looking into some strange tapping them so be it.
Ichigo was desperate and he could tell Kiyoko's brother was as well.
"Look, we'll figure it out. You never know it could be something harmless, like how both you and I can see ghosts even though we both thought we were going insane for like half a year," assured Ichigo, gently squeezing the shorter's shoulder as he turned to walk towards his house.
"Y-yeah, Christ, I almost forgot about that," laughed Kiyoko as memories of a younger him and Ichigo trying to be ghost hunters filled his mind before he waved lightly at his friend, offering a quick goodbye as he moved to continue his walk back to his home.
From Ichigo's house to his own was around a twenty minute walk, all depending on whether it was raining or if Kiyoko felt like taking a short cut, but in general the walk consisted of going through the park and down four or five streets. In itself, the journey could be quite pleasant with multiple trees and streams dotted around the park as well as a koi pond that Kiyoko would sometimes feed bread to if he had forgotten to eat his lunch. Today, however, the blonde found himself deeper in thought than usual as he mechanically walked through the park, his mind focused on the earlier conversation.
What if the tapping was a message? Then it could be a warning, so even a cry for help but then who would be asking Kiyoko for help? And what about the volume of the taps, why did they sometimes increase and why was he the only one who seemed to be hearing them?
In the midst of the many questions, Kiyoko found himself entering his father's shop, mindlessly walking through as he unknowingly ignored the concerned glances being thrown his way by both Jinta and his uncle, Tessei, as he gently patted the top of Ururu's head. Moving forwards, the blonde continued his walk towards his bedroom after carelessly tossing his shoes by the entrance of the main house. From here the blonde found himself helplessly staring at the entrance to his bedroom, part of him wanting to enter but the other half nervous in case the noise started again.
So fixated in his inner debate, Kiyoko completely missed the sound of the soft clinking of his father's shoes against the hardwood floors as the older male slowly neared his frozen son, "Hey, Kiyo, you alright? How was school?"
"School?" muttered Kiyoko, now confused at the sudden question as he sharply turned to face the older blonde, his eyes now wide as he tried to figure out when he had appeared and for just how long he had been staring off into space.
"Yeah, you know the massive building that you go to every weekday. Did something happen? You've been staring off into space for the last five minutes, didn't even greet Jinta or Tessei," asked Kisuke Urahara, his eyes now staring directly into his son's as he tried to look for any signs of distress or lying.
"No…no nothing happened, just didn't get enough sleep that's all,"
"Maybe you should try sleeping in your own bed then," stated Kisuke firmly, his eyes now narrow as he watched Kiyoko visibly tense in front of him before his gaze fell to the floor in a mixture of sadness and self-hatred, "I have nothing against you wanting to share a room with Jinta, I'd just wish you would let me know first,"
"No, Dad, it's not that," whined Kiyoko, his eyes nervously flickering across the floorboards as he felt his father's gaze continue to bore into him.
"Then what is it, Kiyoko? This has been going on for over three months now, I'd like to know what is happening that needs you to sleep in Jinta's bed,"
"Nothing, Dad, sorry I won't do it anymore,"
"I'd hope not. You're sixteen, Kiyoko, if there's a problem you tell me directly, you're too old to be sleeping in the same bed as Jinta," sternly spoke the elder, his expression unreadable as his hat cast a low shadow over the top half of his face.
At the harsh words, the younger could feel the beginnings of tears pricking the corners of his eyes as a wave of shame washed over him causing his body to slightly curve in on itself.
For the first time in the past few months Kiyoko found himself wanting to tell his father everything, from the noises to the ghosts. Maybe then it would all be better, maybe his father would sort it all out just like he always did when Kiyoko was younger and afraid of the dark. However, he couldn't, something deep down told him that this wasn't as small a deal as Ichigo was trying to make him believe and the last thing that he wanted was his father getting involved in his messes.
"Yes, Dad, sorry it won't happen again," muttered the younger blonde, his head bowed down in sadness as he listened to his father's footsteps nearing his slightly bowed figure.
Squeezing his eyes shut in an attempt to blink back the tears, Kiyoko let out a gasp of shock as he felt a calloused hand run softly through his hair before his head was pressed against his father's chest in a small hug. Gently reaching up, the younger blonde clung tightly onto the back of his father's haori as he buried his head further into the strong chest, soft shacks racking through his body.
"I'm saying this because I care and because there is clearly something going on that you're not telling me. I just want you to know that when you're ready, I'll be right here," reassured Kisuke, his arms tightening around his son as he felt small pricks of tears escaping Kiyoko's eyes, wetting the front of his samue as he continued to run his fingers through the long blond locks.