Within six days all of Mikayla's wounds had healed, leaving only a minimal amount of bruising around the most heavily impacted areas. In her opinion, there would be no better feeling than the one that she achieved upon removing those bandages. Both the knowledge that she wasn't going to be asked another question about what had happened nor be suffocated beneath the tightly wrapped bandages allowed for Mikayla to finally relax.
In this relaxing mood, the black-haired female found herself walking through the park, watching as owners walked their dogs and other teenagers and children clustered around one another in groups, all giggling and smiling. The overall walk was pleasant and although the park didn't necessarily compare to some of the grounds that the nobility held (but then again what could compare to that) it was still pleasant and fresh. As she continued her walk, her mind began to get lost in thought as she began to consider a certain mystery that had plagued the school for the last week.
The topic in question; Kiyoko Urahara and his whereabouts.
For the past week the blonde had been missing from all their lessons and with no excuse offered to his closest friends, rumours had since begun to circulate. The main hypothesis was that Kiyoko had taken to sickness and due to his ill health as a child (a new fact that Mikayla had learned from a girl named Orihime) and because of this his father had chosen to take him out of school for his own safety. However, Ichigo was quick to call bullshit stating that Kiyoko 'would be back soon and was probably taking a breather'.
So what she wasn't expecting during her little walk was to see none other than the disappearing boy himself; Kiyoko Urahara.
There by the koi pond stood Kiyoko, who was absent mindedly tearing off pieces of bread before dropping it off into the clear waters. His normally straight posture was hunched as though he were protectively curling into himself as the baggy graphic hoodie made him seem smaller than he actually was. The closer she walked the clearer she could see the dark sunken in circles underneath his eyes, already displaying the lack of sleep, causing his bright eyes to look downcast and sullen. Even his normally neatly brushed hair was frayed and unkempt, signifying the lack of care he had held over himself.
This Kiyoko wasn't the same warm and welcoming boy that she had met a week ago and upon that conclusion, the dark-haired female made her next move.
"Nice to see you, Urahara," Mikayla greeted, standing next to Kiyoko watching as he let out a softly pained smile before dropping off another section of bread.
"Madarame. What brings you here?" he asked, tone flat as his eyes remained trained on the black and white koi fish.
"Just walking through. Checking out the birds, you know, normal teenager things,"
A soft hum was all she got in response as the boy continued to drop bread into the pond. Realising that this conversation was quickly becoming one sided, the whiskey eyed female decided to change tactics. In this case she needed to be blunt otherwise this conversation would end all too quickly.
"Why haven't you been in?" she asked, watching as the male's figure tensed before shakily returning to pulling off pieces of bread, this time with chucks that were slightly too large or too small.
"...Just needed a break," he muttered, eyes flickering between the pond and the bread as he slowly began to trace small circles into the crust of the loaf.
"A break normally means that you've left for relaxation or some form of peace but you look like you've been unable to sleep for days,"
"Are you saying that I look like shit?"
Quickly, Mikayla's head snapped up in shock, her head turning to immediately offer an apology only to stop at the slight smirk on his lips. Glancing back, Kiyoko let out a small chuckle before returning to tearing off pieces of bread.
After an extended period of silence, the blonde finally spoke. Only what he decided to say was nothing short of unexpected.
"I keep on hearing things…scratch that lets start to the beginning 'cause right now I'm sounding like a fool. Around three, maybe two months ago, I began to hear tapping in the corner of my bedroom and before you say some bullshit like 'oh maybe it was a rat' it wasn't, my house is clean. At first I ignored it but by the time it hit the halfway point the sounds were louder and I couldn't stop hearing them. So for the past two months I have been sleeping next to my younger brother because in my fucked up head that's better than talking to my dad about the problem. You following so far?" he asked, realising that his rambling on the whole situation could be causing the female to become bored.
To his surprise (and later, delight), he found her listening intently as she stared directly at him, taking in each facial expression as he loosely recounted the series of events. Smiling slightly, the male took that as a sign to continue now with a new enthusiasm as a small voice in the back of his mind also wondered just what this conversation would result in.
"Good, right back to the main story. Six days ago, I had a dream, well let's be honest and say it was a nightmare. There was a noise in my room and it kept on getting louder and more forceful, so what did I do? I tried to take myself out of the situation and seek help in my brother's room, like I normally do. So tell me why I find his door locked? Tell me why I am standing in my hallway wearing nothing but a pair of pyjama pants banging on a door in the dark as this noise gets louder and louder. I will tell you why because it's a dream,"
"I'm trapped in a bullshit dream and when I wake up I'm covered in water, crying into my brother's shirt whilst my dad is ushering people out of my bedroom to give us 'privacy'. So for the past six days I've had no sleep and I actually fear closing my eyes in case I get trapped again…and I don't even know why I am telling you all this considering I only just met you and you hardly know anything about me…great now you think I'm the crazy kid," muttered Kiyoko, running a hand across his face as he watched the dark haired woman try to stifle a chuckle behind her hand.
"Hardly, if anything I believe you," responded Mikayla after a prolonged period of silence, watching as the boy's eyes widened in shock as he turned to face her.
"H…How do you-"
"I have a friend who works in medical care, she used to talk about dreams like that and how they affected people. Called 'em lucid dreams, I think at least. You never know it could be your sub-conscience trying to tell you something important," offered Mikayla, shrugging her shoulders loosely as a gust of warm summer air brushed through her hair, sending black locks straight into her eyes.
Pausing momentarily, the blonde watched as the taller female seemed to struggle to control the dancing locks before tearing his gaze away in thought.
"Well can it do that in a less aggressive and traumatic way?" he snapped, eyes now bright with frustration before a look of thoughtfulness washed over him, "Lucid dreams, huh? I'll have to look into that,"
For a moment, the blonde seemed to be deep in thought, his brows tightly pinched together as though he were considering each millimetre of the tree in front of him. Then, as though an epiphany had hit the boy, he stopped. With eyes wide and a breath caught in his throat, he looked out into the growth of tall pink trees before muttering something underneath his breath and as though he had found the cure for cancer; he burst into laughter.
Not a mad laugh, no, but this type of laugh Mikayla could only describe as one of relief. As though her simple offering of a 'lucid dream' had offered Kiyoko all he needed in life to carry on.
It was at this point that the black haired female decided that her presence was beginning to intrude on a more personal moment of discovery (or whatever this was meant to be, she couldn't quite decipher that yet) and made the decision that this was the best time for her to take a fashionable exit.
"Glad I could be of some assistance," nodded Mikayla, as the originally concerned feeling she held towards the boy uncoiled as she watched the blonde male slowly return to his earlier nature.
Considering her work completed, the black haired female turned away as she began to return to her long forgotten walk in the park, watching as petals of cherry blossoms turned the path into a sea of pink. However, just as she was about to take another step forward a hand grasping her wrist stopped her, pulling her body back just a step as Kiyoko offered her a bright warm smile.
Just like the smile she had seen when they had first met.
"Thank you, Madarame,"
.
.
.
.
However, this conversation was yet to happen as at this moment in time Kiyoko Urahara could be viewed lying on the porch, his eyes blinking mindlessly up at the blue sky.
Currently, Kiyoko was on day six of his supposed 'sickness leave' and the male could safely say that tired was a word he would no longer use to describe himself. If anything exhausted and burnt-out would be better words however, no matter how hard he tried to fall asleep the blonde simply couldn't.
Whenever he closed his eyes, visions of dark figures and echos of loud tapping overwhelmed his thoughts leading to more than one sleepless night. The lack of sleep had led to Kiyoko's current appearance, as sunken in eyes and dark circles seemed to age his face whilst publicly displaying the young male's fragile state. Alongside this new-found insomnia Kiyoko had lost his appetite leading to the already slim male beginning to lose weight, a fact which had caused Kisuke more concern as he watched the young male slowly waste away. His thoughts clouded in guilt as he wondered how long the night terrors and indirect self abuse (because that was what this all was) had been going on without him knowing.
In an effort to appease his guilt, Kisuke moved Kiyoko's bed into Jinta's room (something that the red-head had taken well to) in an effort to try and stabilise the teenager's sleeping schedule. In a way it did help, for instance, when Kiyoko became too overwhelmed or stuck in his thoughts, Jinta knew exactly what to do and how to help lead his older brother out of his head. These little actions didn't go unnoticed by Kisuke as a sinking realisation fell over him; Jinta knew about Kiyoko's 'little' problem and for the past few months had been helping him. A fact that hurt to think about. If anything, what hurt most about this realisation was the idea that Kiyoko didn't trust his own father enough to let him know that there was a problem, that something was wrong.
Had they really grown that far apart that they could no longer share anything with one another?
Yes, in the past few months Kisuke could feel Kiyoko pulling away but the older male simply assumed that it was a typical teenager trying to find his own independence. If he had known that it ran deeper than that then Kisuke would have tried to help and would have made the effort to try and fix whatever problem was affecting his son.
But who was he kidding? If 'it' and 'but' were candy and nuts we'd all be having a merry christmas. All he could do right now was focus on the future and how he planned to help his son out of this mess.
Such thoughts led the older male outside, as he lazily strolled towards the area where his son was currently stretched out like a cat, his limbs exposed to the sun as he blinked up at the blue sky.
"Kiko, what are you thinking about?" asked Kisuke, his tone playful and light as though to startle Kiyoko.
"...Whether or not that cloud looks like whipped cream…" spoke the blonde, his voice distant as his arm lifted from the porch to point towards one of the white clouds.
Humming softly the older male moved forward before sitting next to Kiyoko, gingerly reaching up to run his fingers through the wavy hair that seemed to paint the wood porch a golden hue. With each run of his fingers, Kisuke watched as the younger male seemed to relax further with his eyes slowly becoming more focused on his surroundings. Lately the teenager seemed so trapped within his own head that he appeared impossible to reach but just like this Kisuke felt a return to the bright eyed boy he watched grow up. The simple action was one that he completed whenever Kiyoko was sick with the flu, as the young boy once said that it helped him to relax and leave his head (even if it only lasted for just a few minutes). Right now, Kisuke just wanted to look at Kiyoko without seeing a pair of glazed over eyes.
"What's going on in that head of your's, kiddo?" he asked softly, watching as tears slowly began to fill the younger blonde's eyes.
"I want to sleep, Christ, I just want to sleep," spoke the younger, his voice crackling with emotion as he curled against his father, fingers never leaving his hair.
…
The confession had led to a ten minute cry with Kiyoko eventually passing out of exhaustion in his father's arms. This had led to Kiyoko's current place of rest being on Jinta's bed as the younger silently read a comic beside him, his left hand tightly holding onto the bronze hand.
Leaving them, Kisuke turned to Tessai, gesturing that they continue their conversation in a more discreet area where they wouldn't risk disturbing the younger blonde.
Over the past six days, the pair had been trying to figure out the root cause of Kiyoko's night terrors only to come up with more dead ends than successful results. These results leaving both males frazzled and irritated as they continued to watch the teenager fall deeper into the hollow shell.
"You're avoiding one main possibility," stated Tessai as he knowingly looked across at the blonde, watching as Kisuke's body tensed under the accusation before he turned to glare across at the other male.
"It's not that, Tessai," dismissed Kisuke, his eyes burning with a cold rage.
"But it could be, he's older now. There's a chance that-"
"A chance that what? That he can now see them? It's been ten years, Tessai, and furthermore what would you like me to do? 'Oh, Kiyoko, now you see that masked beast in front of you? That's a hollow and guess what? You're going to learn how to kill it' No, Tessai, it's not that,"
"You don't have to train him, you know? I'd be happy to help teach Kiyoko,"
"Tessai, you are a very dear friend to me and we have known one another a long time but I swear to God if you dare tell my son anything about this I will tear you in half,"
"...Yes sir,"
"No one and I mean no one trains him…not after last time," warned Kisuke, his voice firm as he marched out of the room.