Whispered Dreams (Open Thread)

[Adish]

Adish stared with question at Kinome. The boy had become rigid when the man asked where his mother was. Once the situation was over, though Adish had a feeling Kinome lied to his father... The man didn't seem like he was all there.

"Yes, Kinome. Are you feeling ill? You should take a nap after we eat... or go to bed early," he suggested.

[kinome]

Kinome’s gaze flashed towards Adish before returning to his meal. Swirling the food around for a bit longer he contemplated his options. He didn’t want to worry his father by admitting that he was ill. On the other hand, he really felt horrible and didn’t want to have to stay up late, as much as he hated to leave his father alone.

Swallowing nervously, Kinome shook his head in negation. “No, I’m alright. Just a little tired. Practice was hard today.”

Kinome’s father heaved a sigh of relief. He really didn’t know how to handle people that were ill. Reaching over he ruffled his son’s hair. “Alright then. “ Turning to Adish, Kinome’s father beamed with pride as he spoke. “Did you know that Kinome started dancing two years ago? His instructor says he has potential, that he could become really good someday. It would be interesting to see don’t you think? And Ki-chan seems to love it. It was his mother’s idea. Ki-chan was not to keen to be dragged to practice a girls sport but he had promised his mother to give it a try, since she loved the sport so much, and now its difficult to get him to come home from class.”

[Adish]

Adish smiled. "It's nice to see someone so dedicated to something. I don't think dancing is a girls' sport. Where I come from, people dance a lot. Especially the faes-..." Adish coughed into his hand and stuffed his mouth full of food, chewing it slowly and smiling sheepishly.

[kinome]

“Dedicated does not even begin to describe my son. More along the lines of fanatical. I’m glad he and his mother have something in common now. His mother was starting to think he didn’t love her seeing as he continually used to follow me around like a lost little puppy before he discovered dancing.” Kinome’s father stated cheerfully.

Kinome hissed softly, the pain indescribable. He hadn’t known that his mother felt that way. He had been a mere 12 years old at the time, uncertain as to his place and desperately trying to seem all grown up. He hadn’t known that his mother had felt ignored. Had she still felt that way when…? Kinome could not take it any longer. He got up roughly, sending the kitchen chair to the floor with a clatter as he turned and fled. Ran from his father and from the reminder of his sins. What he could not run for where his memories, his guilt, the inner accusations and his inner pain. He slammed the door to his bedroom shut.

Kinome’s father jerked back in surprise, suddenly looking guilty. “Was it something I said? I didn’t mean to.” Placing his cutlery down, he stood, heading over to Kinome’s room and tapping softly. “Ki-chan… Open the door please.” Kinome ignored him. This continued for about 15 minutes before Kinome’s father gave up returning to the kitchen and beginning to clear up the dirt dishes. “I apologise for my son. He seems to have rather suddenly gotten very moody. I think something’s wrong but he doesn’t want to talk to me about it.” He sighed, placing the plates into the sink. “I’m sure it will be better tomorrow, after his mother gets home.”

[Adish]

Adish jumped when Kinome stood and ran off. He stared after the boy as the old man rattled off illegitimate excuses. The dragonis knew that something was wrong beyong being 'moody' but he couldn't figure out what it was. He also had the feeling that Kinome's mother wouldn't be coming home. Adish sighed and stood, taking his half-full plate and placing it in the sink with the rest of the plates before taking off towards Kinome's room. He knocked lightly on the boy's door. "...Kinome... I know something's wrong... Will you let me in?"

[kinome]

“Go away.” Kinome called back out, curling in on himself on his bed. He just wanted to be alone. Sometimes he wondered why he even bothered… bothered with anything. No matter what he would never be able to atone. Not for the sin he had committed. What had ever made him think that it were possible. It was all his fault. His fault his mother was gone, his fault his father was not well… all of it… was his fault.

Momentary anger replaced the self-pity he was wallowing in causing Kinome to blindly grab at something and throw it with all his force at the wall across from him. Sad, silver eyes watched the glass shatter with a satisfying crack, the wooden frame falling face down on the floor, hiding three still smiling faces.

[Adish]

Adish pouted. Why was Kinome always telling him to go away? Was he that much of a nuesance? Kinome didn't seem to mind before.

Adish shrugged it off, he promised Kinome, and he would keep that promise. The dragonis jumped when he heard something hit the wall and shatter. Regardless of what Kinome had said before, Adish opened the door and entered the room, closing it quietly behind him to keep the old man from eavesdropping. He looked around the room and saw a broken picture frame on the floor and a broken Kinome on the bed.

Adish frowned sadly and sat down next to the silver-haired boy. "What's wrong? What happened?" he asked softly.

[kinome]

Kinome curled up on the bed, turning his back on Adish. He didn’t want anyone anywhere near him at the moment. Didn’t want anyone to see him in the state he currently was in. Did this stranger know nothing about propriety? Privacy?

“Nothing is wrong. Nothing happened. There was a bug on the wall and I have a phobia for them and just grabbed the first thing in reach to get rid of it. I didn’t mean for it to be glass.” Kinome lied. It was easier to lie than to explain what was really wrong. Easier to lie than to face his sins. Kinome wrapped his arms around himself tightly, burying his face in his pillow, hoping Adish would take the hint and leave.

[Adish]

Adish frowned. "You lie horribly. I wasn't talking about that... I meant... Why did you suddenly leave like that? and... okay, I guess I did mean that photo, too, but... Kinome, I told you before: if you want me gone, just say so, beating around the bush only makes me feel like you think that I'm stupid. And I'm not stupid, okay? I want to help you, I promised you I would, but I can't help you if you won't tell me what's wrong!"

[kinome]

Kinome sat up to face Adish, his eyes flashing in the remnants of his earlier anger. "What do you know about helping?" He demanded. "Who are you to just waltz into my life and without even taking the time to get to know me to demand that I just tell you everything that is bothering me just because you want to 'help'? Tell you things I have never told anyone in my entire life? What right do you have to invade my waking thoughts, make me feel and want things I do not deserve?" Silent tears were coursing down Kinome's face. "What right do you have to take over my life?!"

Kinome's voice had gradually increased in volume to the point where he was now shouting. "Do you really want to know?! You really want to know that badly?!" Suddenly, Kinome's tone dropped to a whisper, a part of his mind still aware of his fathers presence and the damage to his fathers current state his next comment would cause. "It is because of me that my mother is dead."

[Adish]

Adish sat quietly as Kinome yelled at him. He didn't know how to reply; what could he say? Kinome was telling the truth, he had no right to ask things like of him... but he felt like he should. Like he was supposed to be here just for Kinome- just to help him and nothing else. It was such a strong feeling that he couldn't ignore it. What could he say? Kinome wouldn't believe any of that. It was too strange.

"Do you really want to know?! You really want to know that badly?!" The pained look on the boy's face made Adish want to say 'no', but he didn't get the chance. "It is because of me that my mother is dead," the human whispered. Adish blinked. He couldn't think of a responce to that either, and the image of Kinome doing anything to hurt anyone just didn't quite make sense to him.

Adish sighed softly and thought of his own mother at home. What would it be like, if he had been in Kinome's place instead? If he was the one who'd lost a mother. But then, he would never have met the silver-haired beauty, and that hurt to think about. "I... I..." Kinome's mother must have been very nice if the boy was still morning him. "I'm so sorry. I know that... if my momma died, our family would be lost without him. But... I find it hard to believe that you were the cause of his death. I understand now, why you put so much pressure on yourself, though," he said softly before pulling Kinome into a tight hug.

[kinome]

The soft embrace only served to increase the grief. Kinome's sobs increased in degree, his whole body shaking with the force of them as confusion riled through him. No one had ever embraced him, offered him warmth... not since his mothers death and the soft gentleness behind the embrace cracked his resolve to hold in his grief and anger.

Kinome blindly lashed out at Adish, not really intending to hurt him but wanting him to let go because the soft gentle touch was bringing forward all the raw pain he had strived for so long to keep buried deep within himself. "Her..." Kinome managed to sob out. "Her death! A mother is a woman!" Kinome had no idea why he chose to pick on this irrelevant fact but it gave him something to focus on, something other than the pain and grief he didn't know what to do with. Something he tried to distract himself with but failing miserably... "I may not have been the one that plunged the knife into her body but I never stopped the person who DID!" Kinome was suddenly screaming at the top of his lungs, raw pain audible in his voice.

Footsteps ran through the house, Kinome's father flinging the door open, pale and wide eyed as he stared at his son in horror. Something seemed to snap, Kinome's father's face crumpled and the man dropped to the ground arms wrapping around himself, moaning in grief and torment. "Kii-chan... Mare..."

[Adish]

Adish watched in shock as Kinome fought against, yelling the whole time. He had no time to dwell on the fact that Kinome had said his mother was female because Kinome started screaming. Adish turned his head as the old man came charging into the room, only stare then crumble to the ground, crying.

Adish hugged Kinome to him lightly, in some way trying to protect the boy from the utter grief poured upon him. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to... to..."

[kinome]

Kinome continued to scream for a while longer before something finally intruded upon his thoughts. His fathers grief and faint sobs crept into his mind, overshadowing his own grief and demanding immediate attention. Kinome's scream's died suddenly, almost as if someone had suddenly resitricted his air supply. Gurgling softly in regret, Kinome pushed Adish away, not even registering his presence to begin with and ran over to his father's side. "Pappa?" He whispered, tentatively reaching out in an attempt to comfort his grieving father.

Kinome violently got slapped away, the red rimmed eyes of his father looking up at him accusingly. "Get out of here." The man hissed, animosity wrotten all over him. "Don't you dare come near me. You are not my son. What have you done with my wife. GET OUT!" Kinome's father raised his arm and before Kinome knew it, searing pain, welcome pain, deserved pain, tore through him. He slid down the wall he had hit, staring at his father, grief and guilt brimming in his eyes. He chocked back further sobs, watching and waiting, waiting to see how far his father would go that night. Waiting for the punishment he knew he deserved.

Punishement he did not recieve. Kinome's father had left the moment he had struck out at his son. Was gone even before Kinome had landed against the wall. Kinome was left staring at an empty spot, feeling just as empty inside, the tears pouring down his face but an instinctual remnant of his earlier grief, small figure trembling in aftermath, not even registering the fact. "I'm sorry." He whispered to the empty air.

[Adish]

Adish stared in disbelief as the old man struck Kinome. Seeing the boy in pain, pain caused by his own father, made the dragonis mad. He felt the sudden need to change into his dragon form and tear the man pieces for hurting such a fragile person. Luckily, man left before Adish could really act on that thought, making sure Kinome was okay was much more important than anything else.

The red-head climbed off the bed and catiously aproached the boy on the ground. He carefully sat down beside him before wiping the tears from the boy's face with a gentle finger. "I'm so sorry you had to go through that. You deserve so much better. I'm so sorry," he whispered.