𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑩𝒖𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒇𝒍𝒚 (𝑲𝒖𝒓𝒐𝒔𝒂𝒌𝒊) 𝑬𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒄𝒕 »« 𝙱𝙻𝙴𝙰𝙲𝙷/ᴋɴʏ

v.

    "Nīsan–Nīsan please! Please!"

  "Nīsan, why are you standing there?! Please! Please help us!"

  "Nīsan! Stop standing there! Please! He's hurting us! Stop him!"

  Ichigo takes a deep breath, eyes wandering aimlessly across his ceiling. He slowly releases the breath before he silently turns over on his side. Exhausted eyes stare at the wall as Ichigo curls into a ball.

  The bags underneath looked like shadows in the faint moonlight shining through the crack of his closed curtains. His skin looked whiter than the sheets of his bed and his hair was loose and tangled in a mess.

  Ichigo slowly closes his eyes and sighs. He just wants some rest, not a horrific reoccurring nightmare of that damned demon's vision. He takes a deep breath and grabs his blanket to curl himself into it.

  It's been a week since his mother's anniversary. A week since that damned demon. A week since he last slept any fucking amount.

  A muffled thud makes Ichigo snap his eyes open. He slowly sits up from his bed, hand reaching for his sword. No more thuds happen.

  Ichigo carefully stands up from his bed with his sword clutched tightly in his hand. He silently walks across his room and towards his closed door.

  He knows he's just being paranoid. He definitely knows. Yuzu always tosses and turns in her sleep, sometimes hitting her hand or foot against the wall, Rukia is sleeping in his closet, no matter how many times he attempts to get her to sleep in the twins' room, Kon doesn't seem to have the biological need to sleep and likes to wander around, and Isshin, no matter how annoying it is, tends to rummage through the kitchen for something to eat during the rare moments he leaves the clinic. He's just being paranoid.

  Ichigo unsheathes his sword with a careful and practiced ease, leaning the scabbard against the wall with barely a thud. He opens his bedroom door and steps out in silent footsteps as it creaks loudly in the dead silence.

  He quickly starts his age-old routine he created months after his mother had died. Checking the house for any intruders or possible entryways since Isshin never even thought to lock up the clinic during nights.

  The bedrooms are first. The twins'–making sure their window is locked and covered by a curtain and making sure they were both alive–and Isshin's just to make sure no one intruded, then downstairs is next.

  Ichigo made sure early on that no furniture blocked the view of the living room from the stairs, giving him the ability to see both the locked sliding door to the backyard and the entrance to the kitchen. He walks to the left side of the living room entrance to make sure the front door is closed and locked. The windows are next, uncovered but locked–one even glued shut since it couldn't lock. He steps over the loudest wood panel on the floor after finishing the living room check and heads to the kitchen.

  He inspects the locked kitchen window from afar first. His eyes always slide over the rest of the kitchen as he walks backwards to inspect the locked clinic's second entrance. He presses a hand against the hollow section against the wall next to the kitchen entrance, making sure it hasn't been opened up. On his way back towards the stairs, he glances out of the sliding door, double-checking that the wisteria tree is still in full bloom.

  When Ichigo walks back up the stairs, he reaches a hand up and lets his hand brush against the cord that pulls down the attic stairs. He doesn't tug it down before he walks back down the upstairs hallway. He enters the twins' room once again.

  His footsteps are silent before they stop at Yuzu's bed. Ichigo watches her chest gently moving up and down, no sound coming from her breaths. A small smile grows on his exhausted face. Her constant concentration breathing has gotten better.