Ten Years Ago

First it started out small.

Little taps and noises could be heard here and there, leaving the six-year-old often confused and sometimes a bit fearful as towards what they meant or where they had originated from. Sometimes, Kiyoko would find himself peering into cupboards and behind large pieces of furniture in search of these taps and noises. In the end Kiyoko always found himself coming up short, frustration slowly building within him as his cheeks puffed out in annoyance. Of course it would be at that moment that his Father would walk by, choosing the opportunity to poke or squeeze his cheeks and sometimes even ruffle his wavy hair, laughing to himself at the child's curiosity.

In truth, Kiyoko never understood what his Father was laughing at whenever this happened, after all, he just wanted to see what was causing the noises.

It was a simple childhood curiosity, one that Kiyoko thought wasn't going to take him anywhere other than one a simple adventure.

Then it began to grow.

Sometimes glimpses of white skulls would linger in the corner of windows as he walked to school, always clinging on tightly to his father's hand. For the longest time, the older male just assumed that it was because the young boy was nervous of the constantly passing vehicles and offered soft reassurances before he dropped him off outside the gates.

It was around this time that Kiyoko found himself being left out more and more from his previous friendships as other parents and children watched him with hesitant eyes. It was no secret that the blonde was rather… strange as he often seemed to be caught out staring off into the distance in search for such noises and visions of skulls.

There was one singular moment when Kiyoko was in the middle of a maths test that the boy looked up across the class to stare out the window. It was only to catch a quick break as at the time maths was anything but his favourite task but as he continued to stare he noticed that something was wrong.

The sky was black.

It was almost like the inter building had been swallowed into an infinite void as the once clear blue sky and burning gold sky were overpowered by the endless shadow that remained. However, as Kiyoko continued to stare the boy noticed how the void seemed to move, almost in a tilting motion, then as if nothing had happened, it was gone. The sky had returned to its clear blue and the sun continued to burn mockingly up in the sky whilst his teacher hoovered over his desk, her narrow eyebrow raised in disappointment and questioning.

Kiyoko didn't say much after that, just offered a sheepish smile in apology before turning back to his work, trying his hardest not to think of those haunting dark eyes.

When his Father came to pick him up that afternoon his teacher didn't hesitate to share on Kiyoko's lovely problem, practically indulging in the way her student bowed his head in shame.

The only thing from that meeting that Kiyoko can still remember remains to be the set of dark blue eyes he found himself staring into as he attempted to push past the heated discussion that both his teacher and Father were having. The set of eyes belonged to the boy that Kiyoko always saw reading books in the corner of the classroom on his own with an open box of apple slices or sometimes oranges placed on his desk. He was a quiet boy and the teacher seemed to prefer him over Kiyoko but the blonde held no animosity towards that, after all he supposed that if he had to teach a boy who never listened that he would be angry as well.

As the heated discussion came to an end Kiyoko could remember his Father harshly tugging his hand, now thoroughly irritated at the presence of the teacher and this school as he began to walk (though it was more of a march) back to their home. However Kiyoko found himself easily ignoring his Father's muttered and badly hidden swears and curses that were clearly directed at his teacher in favour of sending a soft smile and wave across to the blue eyed boy.

He still remains shocked that the boy waved back.

And grow.

Noises which had once been small now grew into loud, dominating screeches that forced the young boy down onto his knees as he bowed his head into submission. The screams were sometimes so loud that blood would trickle from the corners of his ears as his body shook with sobs.

Again this seemed to occur within class, sending the boy ducking for cover underneath the table as he slowly rocked back and forth.

The rest of the class just stood back in shock, with some students murmuring under their breath or two one another about the blonde's state whilst others laughed at the fact that Kiyoko, in his panic and fear, had accidentally wet himself.

His Father was called again that time.

Dragged into the Principal's office as both his Father and teacher dissolved into a screaming match. It wasn't often that Kiyoko heard his Father yell, if anything he hardly did it, so it clearly spoke volumes on how bad the situation was as the boy found himself poking small holes through the thin plastic bag that held his soaked trousers. The feeling of shame quickly washed over him as he felt tears begin to prick at the corners of his eyes, his head remaining bowed.

"Hey,"

Looking up, Kiyoko found himself staring into dark blue eyes that almost seemed to be calculating his every move. A beat of silence seemed to pass between the pair as they both continued to stare at one another with the sound of his Father's shouting filtering around them.

Suddenly, a wrapped bar was pushed into his face with its clear blue lettering reading 'Snickers' imprinting itself in Kiyoko's mind.

"Eat,"

Years later that chocolate would remain to be his favourite as the same warm feeling of comfort remained in the pit of his stomach. However in that moment all Kiyoko could do was watch the boy walk away whilst he slowly chewed around peanuts and nougat.

Ten minutes later and his Father finally emerged, his face slightly red and mouth pinched in frustration as he scooped up Kiyoko in his arms, taking the bag of soiled clothing in the other hand. This time Kisuke didn't even attempt to hide his swearing as he pressed a kiss against his son's temple in a silent promise.

That day Kiyoko left school two hours before he was supposed to with his Father promising to transfer him to a different class. Though those promises fell on deaf ears as Kiyoko found himself staring across at the blue eyed male who sat reading another book by the window.

Again Kiyoko waved across at the blue eyed boy, a soft smile on his face as he mouthed a soft 'thank you'.

Unlike before it wasn't just a simple wave, it was a quick but firm nod with a brief smile and that was all Kiyoko needed in that moment to know that everything was alright.

Kiyoko wasn't transferred out of that class, instead they got a new teacher, his name was Mr Yasano.

Until it was finally too big to be ignored.

"Blessing, what are you doing under there?"

There underneath his father's bed lay Kiyoko, his body curled into a tight ball as their family cat meows softly, rubbing her head against the curly blonde hair in an attempt to offer comfort. He was still dressed in his uniform with dirt and tears in the fabric revealing cut knees and mud as though the boy had been pushed to the ground.

Even though the boy had a new teacher, who was very nice mind you as he often gave Kiyoko lemon drops whenever he thought he was nearing an 'episode' in an attempt to distract, Kiyoko still found himself being bullied. Older boys and girls would often come from behind, pulling at his hair and kicking at his feet, deliberately tripping him up as they laughed and mocked him.

Today was worse, as rather than just seeing a glimpse of a skull or the irritating tapping, Kiyoko found himself staring face to face at the full figure of the creature. It was from this that Kiyoko quickly came to understand that the darkness he found himself staring into was nothing but an empty eye socket surrounded by a thick imposing white skull.

All Kiyoko can remember past the sight was running home through thick bushes and rushing traffic in a desperate attempt to get home to where it most certainly was safe.

What resulted was Kiyoko hiding underneath his Father's bed with their cat purring against him.

.

.

.

In total it took three hours to get Kiyoko out from underneath his Father's bed with the boy scratching against his Father's hold in an attempt to get back under the shelter that was the bed.

What resulted was an hour long conversation between the Father and son with Kisuke gently rocking back and forth with Kiyoko buried in his chest.

Two weeks later and Kiyoko found himself underneath their family shop in a vast space that Kiyoko would later learn was a training ground.

"It's behind you!" Kiyoko shouted, fear clearly evident in his voice as he stared wide eyed at the sight of the creature.

Chuckling softly, Kisuke just shook his head before demonstrating to Kiyoko how the Hollow had been tightly chained for his own safety. Walking across, Kisuke handed Kiyoko a set of knives (these Kiyoko would later learn were known as Butterfly Knives) before kneeling down in front of Kiyoko with a soft smile stretched across his face.

"It's alright, Blessing, just trust me. I'll be right over here to protect you if anything goes wrong, okay? I believe in you," reassured Kisuke, patting his son's head as he began to walk past.

"Okay, Dad,"

In hindsight this whole concept of sending Kiyoko to train at such a young age should have been the last thing on Kisuke's mind, rather he should have been considering ways to slowly introduce Kiyoko into the spiritual world without scaring him for life. However, Kisuke was being foolish and the idea that Hollows were already beginning to target his child without his knowledge was an ever pressing issue in the back of his mind. As a result, a fatal mistake was made as Kisuke watched from the side lines as the Hollow swiftly moved past his son's sub-par attack, instead choosing to move through the shadows to gain an upper hand on the boy.

If Kiyoko had been trained he would have moved and been able to dodge the hit.

Kiyoko wasn't trained.

The hit landed directly as the Hollow swooped down from mid-air and onto Kiyoko, leaving Kisuke only able to watch in wide eyed horror as his son's body was slashed into.

"Kiyoko!"

Kisuke's scream tore through the training ground as he watched through wide eyes as Kiyoko's body was flung across the field.

What happened next, Kisuke didn't really remember.

Tessei would later inform Kisuke that he had rushed at the Hollow, quite literally splitting it into quarters before running to find Kiyoko. The boy, now lying face down and unconscious in a puddle of blood as he wheezed for air.

The damage was significant as deep claw marks ran across his slender chest, leaving shreds of his white (though now it was so drenched in blood it may as well have been red) shirt hanging from his body. Another deep slash ran across his face, splitting a clear line across the bridge of his nose whilst another ran through his eyebrow reaching up to his hairline, causing rivettes of blood to flow into his blonde hair. The last cut remained to be the more concerning as it ran diagonally across his throat, meeting the set of claw marks that stretched across his chest.

What Kisuke can remember was pressing his hands against his son's throat as he cradled his body into his chest, rocking back and forth. He'd later reflect that the loud sharp sobs that seemed to echo around him actually were coming from the man himself as he began to plead for Tessei to help heal his son.

Newborn Hollows are far more savage and primal than their older counterparts. Kisuke Urahara knew that and yet he still made one of the worst decisions of his life.

For three painstakingly long weeks Kiyoko was bedridden.

The first week had left the young blonde in and out of a drug induced haze as his body slowly began to heal with drugs so potent that he found himself unable to speak. It was a precaution, not one Kisuke wanted to take but a necessary one as on the fifth day Kiyoko's cuts had become infected. To this day Kisuke can't say what caused the infection (whether it be the unlicensed drugs or the endless healing kido) but all he can state for certain was that it, in the simplest terms, was bad. For five days runny yellow puss poured and clotted the deep cuts with discolouration tinting the surrounding skin. On those days the drugs became stronger with Kiyoko often letting out low groans of pain whenever Kisuke ran a warm damp cloth against the wounds. Kisuke can remember often having to leave the windows open in a bittersweet attempt to remove the endless smell of sweat and decay, whilst Kiyoko laid in herb infused bathwater, his head held up only by the help of his father.

After the first week of a drug induced haze and the second week left an even further blur by the infection; the third week may as well have been a blessing.

By this time all infection had passed with healthy looking scabs covering each wound whilst any forms of discoloration had finally begun to fade, bringing forth the healthy caramel complexion of his son.

The scars that now remained would be a forever permanent fixture on his son's body however Kisuke found himself creating a cloaking device which could cover the scars from view. It was an attempt to both apologise to his son as he knew that Kiyoko was being bullied in school and that the scars would only cause worse things to happen. Although if he was being honest the cloaking device was more of an apology to himself as staring at those scars day in and day out would forever be an endless reminder of his mistake and failure as a Father.

It was during this third week that Kisuke also realised that a small gift had been passed onto him; Kiyoko had permanent memory loss from the incident. Whilst the boy could remember bits of what happened before he wouldn't remember the accident at all, instead Kisuke (though his own abilities) allowed for a small change to occur in that rather than a Hollow attack, Kiyoko would believe it to be an animal attack. It was an underhanded move but at that moment, as Kisuke found himself running his fingers through his son's hair, Kisuke could care less about whether or not it was truthful, he just wanted his son kept out of this world.

"Hey, Kisuke, I was thinking as Kiyoko is finally healing, I figured that we should begin to consider a new way of training him. So I was thinking instead of-"

"No," his voice firm as he stopped running his fingers through Kiyoko's short hair.

"No? What do you mean 'no'?" asked Yoruichi, the woman now thoroughly confused as she took a slow step forward.

She was by no means attempting to be harsh, rather she just wanted to help her friend see that there was a way past this.

However, Kisuke was not in the mood to hear it at all.

"I mean no Yoruichi, not again," snarled Kisuke, quickly turning to exit the room as he began to walk towards the store room, leaving the wide-eyed female behind as she recovered from the shock.

He didn't want to have this discussion, hell he never wanted to.

The whole idea of training his son to fight Hollows was a complete mistake and should have never been completed in the first place. Yet they did it anyway and here they stood suffering from attempting such a dangerous task. If this was just their first mistake that had led to Kiyoko spending around three weeks inside bed and Kisuke couldn't help but wonder what could have happened if it went just a centimetre to the left. Then Kiyoko would be dead, buried six feet under whilst Kisuke remained alive and breathing.

Present Day

"I hate you, by God do I hate you," muttered Mikayla, placing Kiyoko down on the bed as she turned to leave the room.

It had taken an hour to find the boy by which time his skin was ice cold as rain soaked his body. The girl had considered taking him back to his Father's house, however Mikayla couldn't help but think about how awkward that would be as she was carrying the former Captain's unconscious child in her arms. So the female resorted to bringing Kiyoko back to her apartment, unceremoniously dumping the boy on her sofa as swears littered underneath her breath. Kiyoko may look slim but the boy was fucking heavy, and his drenched clothes didn't help.

Stripping him was an anomaly.

It was an attempt to be medical and reserved (like she had been when she was sewing up a wound on a member of her team or her friends), she wasn't by any means meant to look further than what was absolutely necessary.

However, Mikayla really wasn't sure what to say when she came face to face with the vast expanse of dark skin. For a normal teenager, there was nothing wrong with his physique, if anything it was quite healthy as Mikayla could clearly see where weight was returning from where Kiyoko had previously lost it. Although Kiyoko wasn't a typical teenager and hadn't been since their first meeting, for such a reason a more vigorous training session was needed and if tonight was anything to go by, that would have to happen very soon.

"Boy, we are going to work you into shape," muttered Mikayla underneath her breath as she placed a shirt over Kiyoko's bare chest.